Tuesday 15 February: The Ukraine crisis casts a harsh light on Europe’s defence decisions

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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965 thoughts on “Tuesday 15 February: The Ukraine crisis casts a harsh light on Europe’s defence decisions”

  4. The Ukraine crisis casts a harsh light on Europe’s defence decisions

    The powers that be need a handy diversion and a hate figure to divert attention from them as we ease ourselves out of the pandemic.

  9. Putin is even more dangerous than the deluded West is able to admit. 15 february 2022.

    But what is he? The West appears to have gambled big that Putin is, in essence, little more than a mafia man. That for all his grandiose rhetoric about restoring a certain respect for Russia on the world stage, he is focused, above all else, on the survival of his regime. The theory goes that his fragile kleptocracy will not risk sanctions that might antagonise its jet-setting oligarchy or other members of its elite. Nor will Putin want to test the patience of Russia’s disillusioned middle class with a bloody, protracted war.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    John Church.

    I can’t shake the feeling that we are all being gas-lit by Johnson and Biden, and that there is absolutely no intention in Russia to start a conflict. But inflating this whole ‘crisis’ deflects attention away from all their domestic failures, and is a win-win for them. If there is an invasion they can say ‘look I told you so’ and if there isn’t they can say ‘look how we managed to make Putin back down’

    That just about nails the present situation down and needs no further comment. As to Putin’s motivation, that is transparently clear. He is an old-fashioned patriot steeped in his country’s history and traditions. We once had such men but no longer. That country that nurtured and bred them has been destroyed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/02/14/putin-even-dangerous-deluded-west-able-admit/

    1. I am going black in the face pointing out that all of the fracking could be carried out in the North Sea with no disturbance to the land. Moreover we already are putting in place the services infrastructure in regard to offshore wind farms, an infrastructure that could service offshore gas installations.

      1. ‘Twould be great if the PTB decided that fracking in the North Sea was allowable and, if said fracking caused whole wind farms to collapse.

        Oh, how we would laugh.

  11. SIR – Mateusz Morawiecki, prime minister of Poland, says that Europe’s leaders lack the courage to stand up to Russia (Commentary, February 12).

    Perhaps because he does not wish to receive further fines from Brussels, he does not mention specific individuals, such as Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. Her relevant experience stretches to being selected by Angela Merkel as German defence minister, to oversee the decline of the German armed forces.

    Then there is the foreign policy portfolio for the entire EU, which is in the hands of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security – a certain Josep Borrell, whom no one has ever heard of.

    Mr Morawiecki concludes that true leadership is required to eliminate the Russian menace and restore Europe to a path of security. Poland is a member state, but probably realises that the EU is wholly incapable of providing this.

    Gerald Heath
    Corsham, Wiltshire

    And speaking of Germany…it receives 40% of its gas from Russia, so I doubt that they will wish to rock the boat. Closing their nuclear power stations was not a good idea.

    1. Stupid Polish leadership played a considerable part in dragging us into the 1939 debacle!

      1. Yes, it was all Poland’s fault, forcing Hitler and Stalin to invade then purge Poland of intellectuals, military officers and Jews.

        And, of course, it’s all Ukraine’s fault for the way Russia has treated it in the past, for example the Holodomor and annexation of the Crimea, and for forcing Putin to mass his armies on the Ukraine border in case NATO uses its handful of troops there to invade Russia.

        1. Minister Beck, disappointed with the lack of recognition, issued an ultimatum on the day of the Munich Agreement to the government of Czechoslovakia, demanding an immediate return to Poland of the contested Zaolzie border region. The distressed Czechoslovak government complied, and Polish military units took over the area. The move was negatively received in both the West and the Soviet Union, and it contributed to the worsening of the geopolitical situation of Poland. In November, the Polish government also annexed a small border region in dispute with the newly autonomous state of Slovakia and gave its support to Hungary’s expansion into Carpatho-Ukraine, located within the now federal Czechoslovakia. WIKIPEDIA.

          All this contributed to the febrile atmosphere in Central Europe and distracted the Great Powers from the threat of Hitler’s Gemany.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1939%E2%80%931945)#Rearmament_and_first_annexations

          1. Oh, yes, Poland taking back areas it once had, a tiny fraction of what Hitler took, and of what Stalin had recently taken in the Baltic states, caused the lead up to WW2 to be all Poland’s fault.

            Edited for clarity.

          2. I assume your acerbity is because you have had to come into the office early to counter the avalanche of scepticism on the threads about Boris and Biden’s motivations concerning Ukraine. Panic stations?

  12. Heat pump benefits
    SIR – We disagree with Philip Johnston that doubling down on gas is the solution to a crisis caused by gas (“Britain needs a new dash for gas to save us from the lunacy of net zero”, Comment, February 9).

    Wholesale gas markets, whose prices are set globally, could well be tight for many years to come. With about 85 per cent of British households currently heated with gas, this leaves them exposed to prolonged volatility. Far from being the cause of the current energy-bills crisis, low-carbon home measures are the long-term solution.

    Heat pumps run on electricity and are more than three times as efficient as gas boilers in their use of primary energy. Although electricity prices have risen – by 86 per cent due to the rise in gas prices – domestic electricity from renewables and nuclear power has helped insulate Britain from gas-price spikes. Heat pumps also work well at temperatures as low as -15 degrees Celsius (which is fine for Britain).

    Last year France installed more than 400,000 new units. Britain should focus on catching up within five years. This will bring huge health as well as financial and environmental benefits.

    Edward Robinson
    Electrify Heat
    Brian Tilley
    Head of External Affairs, E.ON
    Laura Bishop
    Chair, Ground Source Heat Pump Association
    Stew Horne
    Head of Policy, Energy Saving Trust
    Phil Hurley
    Chair, Heat Pump Association
    Bean Beanland
    Director for Growth and External Affairs, Heat Pump Federation
    David Cowdrey
    Director of External Affairs, MCS Charitable Foundation
    Edward Thompson
    ICAX Ltd

    No hint of a vested interest here, then! Saturday’s Times also had a pro-heat pump article, perhaps fed by this lot to a lazy and/or ignorant journalist? This chap certainly isn’t convinced:

    SIR – The air-source heat pump’s fundamental flaw is poor efficiency at low air temperatures, just when heat demand is at its greatest. As daily ambient temperature is always at its lowest at breakfast time – a period very likely to be targeted if providers persist with surge pricing (Letters, February 13) – then costs become even greater for the heat-pump owner.

    Energy providers make much of the opportunities for cheaper operation of domestic appliances at non-peak times. Perhaps us heat-pump owners will have to get up in the small hours to ensure a warm house and hot shower at reasonable cost.

    Philip Raven
    Claxby, Lincolnshire

    1. Too many MRDs here. I wouldn’t have (couldn’t afford) a heat pump but we will survive on our oil-fired boiler (no gas here in rural Suffolk) and buy 1,000 litres of oil for a year’s hot water and heating – when required.

      So, you pontificating, self-aggrandising poltroons, take your views elsewhere – they’re not believed.

        2. I expect mine to be, too, when the tank needs refilling. I only use the oil in April-May and Sept-Nov. The rest of the cold months I rely on the (multi-fuel) Rayburn.

      2. ‘Morning, Nanners. I hope your oil-fired boiler is relatively new? I read somewhere that they will be outlawed after 2025.

    2. More than a few weasel words in that letter from Edward Robinson.

      Three times as efficient as gas boilers “in their use of primary energy” – I think most people will judge by how warm and comfortable their house is, and how large their bills are. The results speak for themselves.

      “caused by gas” – no, caused by politicians’ and net zero nonsense idiocy in running down gas stores.

      “by 86 per cent due to the rise in gas prices” – you forget to mention the hefty subsidy for renewables, without which they would not be feasible, and which inflates everyone’s bills.

    3. All of the argument regarding home heating seem to all point to external control of domestic usage: what fuel we can or cannot use, when we can heat our homes and cook our food. Surely that is our business and no one else’s?
      Leave it to us to choose coal, wood, gas, electricity, oil, or heat pumps, solar panels or whatever. Let the greenies choose their way and let normal people use coal, wood, oil and gas as much as they like.

    4. “domestic electricity from renewables and nuclear power has helped insulate Britain from gas-price spikes.”
      These ‘renewables’ include (and probably make up the majority) wood pellets derived from, now non-extant, forests, so not much more renewable than coal. The nuclear energy probably comes mainly from foreign sources.

    5. We’ve had an heat pump for many years, and can assure you that the figures put out by heat pump salesmen are very imaginative.

      For running costs expect to pay about double that of a gas or oil fired boiler.

    6. We’ve had an heat pump for many years, and can assure you that the figures put out by heat pump salesmen are very imaginative.

      For running costs expect to pay about double that of a gas or oil fired boiler.

    1. Well, hopefully he won’t carry out a re-enactment of Soviet tanks rolling into Berlin.

  14. SIR – My husband and I, both pretty fit but now in our late 70s, recently had a promising-looking walk spoilt by the need to lift our 55  lb lurcher over several stiles (Letters, February 14), at the risk of injury to her and ourselves, particularly when going uphill.

    We’d be delighted to see them replaced. When planning a walk from Ordnance Survey maps, it’s impossible to know where there might be stiles preventing easy access.

    Angela Kemsley
    Cambridge

    SIR – I have always regarded it a privilege to be allowed access to farmers’ private land via a right of way, and stiles are part and parcel of that.

    When my late mother visited and was unable to use stiles due to her age, we simply planned new routes that avoided them. To expect farmers – who have enough challenges to deal with – to respond to the public’s varied requirements is absurd.

    I am now in my seventh decade, and when I find it impossible to get my leg over a stile, I too will switch to Plan B.

    Geoff Pringle
    Long Sutton, Somerset

    Some years ago we came across a stile topped with barbed wire! In those days our (now-elderly) Lab would normally have scrambled over, but on this occasion she hesitated, giving us time to pick her up and safely deposit her on the other side. She’s still around 25kg but her age has taught her to be more cautious, unlike us when lifting her over or getting her in and out of the back of the car.

    Edited for the very obvious ‘style’ typo…

    1. Angela Kemsley, I suspect that you are molly-coddling your hound.

      A lurcher is very capable of negotiating any stile – and many fences as well.

      Get real.

      1. I agree – we’ve never had a dog that needed lifting over a stile! Stiles are traditional, and people should stop complaining.

          1. The wokie want to get rid of livestock too – I suppose their vision is of a sort of leisure park with solar panels.

          2. Yes, indeedy! That is what the countryside is for. For holiday time! We get cyclists* in droves throughout the summer, clogging our narrow roads. Strange to say, roads in the country are working roads for people going to and from work , for farmers, office workers, shoppers and school people.
            *Oh, and caravans and motorhomes…

        3. I used to have to lift my aged Patterdale cross terrier over stiles; he had arthritic back legs and couldn’t jump.

  15. SIR – My husband and I, both pretty fit but now in our late 70s, recently had a promising-looking walk spoilt by the need to lift our 55  lb lurcher over several stiles (Letters, February 14), at the risk of injury to her and ourselves, particularly when going uphill.

    We’d be delighted to see them replaced. When planning a walk from Ordnance Survey maps, it’s impossible to know where there might be stiles preventing easy access.

    Angela Kemsley
    Cambridge

    SIR – I have always regarded it a privilege to be allowed access to farmers’ private land via a right of way, and stiles are part and parcel of that.

    When my late mother visited and was unable to use stiles due to her age, we simply planned new routes that avoided them. To expect farmers – who have enough challenges to deal with – to respond to the public’s varied requirements is absurd.

    I am now in my seventh decade, and when I find it impossible to get my leg over a stile, I too will switch to Plan B.

    Geoff Pringle
    Long Sutton, Somerset

    Some years ag we came across a stile topped with barbed wire! In those days our (now-elderly) Lab would normally have scrambled over, but on this occasion she hesitated, giving us time to pick her up and safely deposit her on the other side. She’s still around 25kg but her age has taught her to be more cautious, unlike us when lifting her over or getting her in and out of the back of the car.

    Edited for the very obvious ‘style’ typo…

  16. SIR – Am I alone in becoming depressed by the music on BBC Radio 3’s weekly broadcast of choral Evensong?

    Modern anthems and settings of the canticles, often rather dissonant, have pushed out the old favourites (by Sir Charles Stanford, S S Wesley, Herbert Howells and others), which have brought joy with Wednesday afternoon crumpets to so many of us over the decades.

    Do cathedral choirmasters now believe they have to be “with it”?

    Francis Bown
    London E3

    In a word…yes! The BBC continues its crazy infatuation with a younger audience, although I suspect that very few, if any, of the younger generation has even heard of Radio 3, never mind choral Evensong…

    1. Just more BBC elitism. They despise the common man who just wants to hear the hymns learned in primary school.

      1. That was exactly what we got last Sunday – all the hymns were ones I had sung in school. I didn’t need my hymnal for the words!

  17. SIR – I note that Specsavers opticians are charging individuals substantial fees for a copy of their prescriptions (report, February 12).

    Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a copy of one’s personal data must be provided free of charge, preferably in digital format by email.

    Failure to provide this, or an attempt to charge, can result in a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

    I suggest that anyone being refused a copy of their prescription follows this route, quoting a request for personal data under GDPR, and making a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office if it’s refused or a charge is mooted.

    Susan Ellis
    Midgham, Berkshire

    I gave up on Specsavers some years ago now, after a disastrous five visits to sort out my new specs. Eventually the manager told me that a lens would be replaced by another, more expensive version. Bingo! No similar problems with my current opticians, although they are more expensive. You pays yer money…

          1. Not the cheapest but I have never had a problem with their specs, and their service is excellent.

          2. Specsavers keep banging on at me to make an appointment and I’ve resisted as I see no diminution in my eyesight.

            When/if that happens, I’ll consider Vision Express.

    2. Morning, Hugh.

      People who even think about using Specsavers need their brains testing. The last time I used them, over six years ago, I needed to complain to their head office threatening legal action over their (provable) sharp practices. They settled by not charging me for anything and apologising.

      Since then I have invariably used the services of proper opticians.

      1. I always use a local company.
        They have been good and helpful throughout; it was one of their opticians who very early on noticed a problem and contacted Ipswich Hospital while I was still in his surgery.
        My talent for knackering glasses has become a standing joke; when I rock up with yet another pair missing some vital component I am met with understanding smiles followed by a free repair.

        1. That’s what happened to me. Specsavers failed to diagnose my cataracts and then provided me with glasses that made my eyesight worse, not better! I then went to a local independent optician and they sent me, post haste, to an eye clinic where the first of my cataract operations was performed immediately.
          Specsavers acts as a group of independent franchises with very little control from their Head Office.

  18. Morning Nottlers –

    I also put this out on TCW to see if anyone has a suggestion

    My 33 y.o. son is vaxxed and boosted and has inexplicably developed extremely painful bowel inflammation – he spent four nights in hospital dosed up on morphine, and the pain has now subsided and he has gone home.
    The only information I can find on the internet is “there is no reason to believe the vaccines cause…” statements. I now give these no credence whatsoever. I would like to read : We have studied this particular question and have found that …

    Does anyone have information one way or the other on this?

      1. Quite. But I am still high and dry with a now quite vulnerable son who does not yet realise how badly he has been hoodwinked.

    2. There are various protocols on the internet for dealing with covid, put together by doctors.
      Someone on TCW said at one time that they were going to glean from these, a protocol for how to minimise the effects of the jab, if your body is still producing spike proteins. I never saw the result of that though.

      I would guess that if the problem is caused by the mRNA lingering too long and still producing spike proteins, then the Zelenko protocol would help.
      If the problem is caused by another immune system response, then I don’t know.
      There are support groups for people who suspect they may be vaccine damaged, so you might get better information from one of those.

      Hope you can find something, it must be worrying.

      1. To me, BB2, the obvious answer, in the face of suspicious jabs, is don’t get jabbed. My protocol and to date, I’m still alive – I think.

        1. People got jabbed for all sorts of reasons, and I think we have to concentrate on helping those who are affected.

          1. So be it, BB2, but be sure that you’re well informed. That’s all I have to say on the subject.

          1. Pity they didn’t recognise the lack of any knowledge of long-term effects – which are now coming out of the wood-work – that is the sole reason why I initially refused the jab, despite all the ‘warnings’ from Project Fear.

        3. I am 75; I am overweight; I have not had Covid jabs because my doctor advised me not to have them; I have an assortment of comorbidities; I had Covid 19 last week – it was no worse than a common cold. I am still alive – maybe I am just lucky? Maybe I would not still be alive if I had had the jabs.

          I don’t know.

          (But nobody else really knows do they?)

      2. I wonder how long it will be before the whole story of the damage caused by these Covid ‘vaccines’ is published?

        I cannot but remember that Thalidomide was tested thoroughly for a far greater length of time than the Covid vaccines have been tested and it took over ten years before it was removed because of the birth defects it caused.

          1. If people believe that and continue with the jab folly, then it is purely down to them. I for one, don’t wish any harm to befall on Best Beloved but she can be very stubborn.

  19. Bravo, Janet Daley, this says it all!

    The BBC’s absurd attempt to prove it belongs to us only exposes its vanity
    Instead of listening to criticism, the institution has become more arrogant and aggressive. It is not “our BBC” but theirs

    JANET DALEY
    14 February 2022 • 7:00pm

    Somebody in the BBC hierarchy must have thought this was a great idea. And quite a lot of people inside the organisation must have agreed – given the innumerable committee meetings that it would have passed through to gain approval.

    Having seen the overwhelming triumph of the campaign to protect the NHS by presenting it as a national institution that belongs to all of us, the Corporation has now launched an embarrassingly desperate public relations onslaught with precisely the same theme.

    It is, believe it or not, “your BBC” – even when it righteously screens out what it regards as your unacceptable views, or imposes its particular version of social virtue on the nation, or refuses to apologise for what you may see as an offensive anti-Semitic slur.

    The clumsily worded slogan – “The BBC is something that belongs to all of us” (something? what exactly?) – is apparently to become a ubiquitous refrain in its endless self-promotion, but if you want the full length version, you can view a video on iPlayer entitled This is our BBC.

    This opus is obviously designed to be hilarious, proffering the subtext “we don’t really take ourselves too seriously” when, in fact, what it reveals is that the BBC sees itself as a sacrosanct mainstay of British identity.

    Whatever you may have been tempted to conclude, it insists, we are not an out-of-touch, self-regarding purveyor of our own particular worldview which regards much public opinion as beneath contempt.

    Listen to what we are saying now about how we view ourselves and, above all, be aware that we cannot carry out this mission without your participation.

    At one point in this compilation of unmemorable BBC clips, someone utters the revealing words, “It [the BBC] only exists if we really believe.” A bit like Tinker Bell in the stage production of Peter Pan, then?

    That somebody – indeed, lots of people – within the organisation felt that this absurd exercise was appropriate tells you something about the state of mind at Broadcasting House.

    The Corporation has reacted to the threat to its future and its antiquated funding model in precisely the wrong way. Instead of listening with a semblance of respect to the criticisms made of its attitude and judgment, it has become more arrogant and aggressive.

    In its news and current affairs programming, it has become more insular and enclosed. What passes for discussion on the news consists of a BBC presenter interviewing a BBC correspondent who repeats a pre-scripted version of what the presenter has just provided.

    Instead of opening itself up to genuine arguments or to alternative opinions that are enlivening public discourse in the real world, it shuts down any possibility of disagreement. The result is predictable, anodyne and anti-democratic.

    In much of what should be apolitical programming – entertainment and lifestyle genres – it inserts themes and directives which clearly have a political intent and treats any public resistance to this as a form of heresy.

    Who do they think they are fooling? The BBC isn’t yours – it’s theirs.

      1. and

        Love thy Neighbour
        Alf Garnett
        It Aint Arf Hot Mum
        Black and White Minstrl Show

        At least 50% of presenters are White & Heterosexual

        Etc

        1. According to Lammy’s assessment of 3% black population, can we change that percentage somewhere nearer 90%?

    2. Reference Janet Daley’s article, the BTL posters are not holding back:

      Charlie Scott Douglas
      11 HRS AGO
      How can they say “The BBC is something that belongs to all of us” when they pay June Sarpong £250,000 per annum to do three days work a week as Creative Diversity Officer (whatever that is) and Gary Lineker £1.5m to read a teleprompter for three hours a week?
      The arrogance is stupefying. No, sorry, defunding is the only solution.

      John Nerding
      11 HRS AGO
      Any organisation paying the likes of pathetic June Sarpong’s £267,000 pa for 3 days ‘work’ as Diversity Director ( which means purging normal heterosexual white Christians) needs binning.

      Robert Gray
      11 HRS AGO
      Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty mocking the Union Flag did for me. It represented an embedded mocking cynicism for our nation and the BBC’s pathologically ingrained sense of condescending superiority. They still believe themselves to the voice of the nation but exploit patrician inheritance with chippy woke arrogance. Cheap shots.

      And so on…

  25. Russia-Ukraine crisis: An invasion may ‘not stop at Ukraine’, warns Liz Truss. 15 February 2022,

    Liz Truss fears that a Russian invasion “would not stop at Ukraine”, she has told Sky News.

    “Vladimir Putin has also questioned why other Eastern European states are part of Nato,” the foreign secretary said. “This I fear is an attack that wouldn’t stop at Ukraine, but would spread to Eastern Europe. Russia says it’s security is being undermined but nobody believes that Russia is under attack.”

    If Russia were to succeed in an invasion, then “other aggressors around the world could see this as an opportunity to expand their ambitions.”

    Hmmm! Project Fear on steroids? Vlad is going to take over the world! The key to this is of course to recall previous conflicts where calming the situation was the predominant motivation. We must be getting close to the West’s False Flag or Provocation that will set this thing off.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/15/russia-ukraine-crisis-putin-nato-boris-johnson-invasion-news/

    1. I’m expecting Russian troops here tomorrow about 11AM (12.00 Moscow time).
      Off to the supermarket soon to stock up on popcorn.

    2. Truss is such a fool. Note how everyone else is keeping quiet and letting her shoot her mouth off. Even if she’s being told what to say, she could refuse and let them sack her!

    3. Truss was talking about Vlad’s expansionist policy this morning. I wondered if she really believed what she said and deliberately ignored the EU’s obvious attempts at empire building.

  26. Good morning all and it’s pissing it down in Derbyshire and will be for at least the next couple of hours.
    A miserable start with 1°C on the thermometer.

    A run to Derby to pick up t’Lad after he finishes work, then a trek down to near Thornbury for the night and down to the Heritage Museum in Filton to examine the controller of a vintage battery truck so he can take note of the design of a couple of bits that are missing from the similar truck, a Morrison Electricars Model TU, that we have.

    Apparently quite a few were sent to Russia:-
    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/1qsAAOSw2ApgeZB2/s-l1600.jpg

    2. Good grief, BoB, so Putin is planning to send its women in to the Ukraine to round up the entire Ukrainian government and transport them to Siberia! Lol. PS – How will they stop the politicians from leaping off the platforms and running away?!?!?

  27. John Major has swallowed the politics of the Blob
    His call for the state funding of political parties suggests that officialdom must regulate what should be left to citizens
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/02/15/john-major-has-swallowed-politics-blob/

    Every time that this disgusting excuse for a human being feels compelled to try and stir up poison against his successors he should be taken to task by journalists of all political persuasions and publicly reminded of his sordid betrayal of his wife.

    BTL

    I find it completely repulsive that a man who made out that traditional ‘back to basics’ morality was important to him was, nevertheless, involved in a sordid extra-marital affair with one of his work colleagues for some years.
    The man is a disgusting hypocrite and no attention should be given to his bitter, self-indulgent outbursts directed at others.

    Two other Conservatives who were disgraced, John Profumo and Jonathan Aitken, retired from public life with dignity, expressed contrition and set about trying to help others.

    This piece of human excrement, John Major, deserves no respect and no sympathy and fully deserves the epithet used by the deputy leader of the Labour Party when she described her political opponents as scum.

    John Major is a pariah and should be treated as such.

    1. John Major has used up what little respect he had in the country by sniping from the sidelines.

    2. Yo Rastus and All

      I agree in principle that Major is excrement and an anus (please supply your own normal usage words),
      however, it is a biological fact that without the two of them, we would all die. I, and l many others, could
      happily live on, in a Majorless world.

      We need to apply a better description of him, the emphasises his:

      utter uselessness
      hypocrisy
      repulsiveness
      lack of morals
      etc
      pinched from your post above

      I will start off

      Major is waste of Oxygen. Space and Victuals

    3. Yo Rastus and All

      I agree in principle that Major is excrement and an anus (please supply your own normal usage words),
      however, it is a biological fact that without the two of them, we would all die. I, and lmany other, could
      happily live on, in a Majorless world.

      We need to apply a better description of him, the emphasises his:

      utter uselessness
      hypocrisy
      repulsiveness
      lack of morals
      etc
      pinched from your post above

      I will start off

      Major is waste of Oxygen. Space and Victuals

    4. I totally agree Richard. A few years ago I had a day out fishing with our three sons on the beach at Weybourne Norfolk and some one told us that Major lived slightly inland from where we were, Not that we asked of course. But like other failed PMs I expect his home will be the one with the high brick wall around and the permanent black car/van of the security service on the drive it, as is that of the Blairs in Buckinghamshire.

      1. It seems particularly tasteless to link it to Valentines Day, but I guess they think all is fair in love and the war on crime.

  29. New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern Blames Mysterious ‘Imported’ Forces for Freedom Convoy

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2022/02/more-nz-protests-for-arfdern-640×480.jpg

    New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday blamed mysterious “imported” forces for the protests against her vaccine mandates that dominate the national capital.

    Ardern pointed at Canadian flags and Donald Trump images on the streets of Wellington as evidence for her conspiracy claim.

    “It feels like an imported protest to me,” the left-wing Labour leader and former president of the International Union of Socialist Youth confided in an interview.

    “I’ve seen Trump flags on the forecourt, I’ve seen Canadian flags on the forecourt,” she told national broadcaster TVNZ, referring to images of former U.S. President Donald Trump allegedly carried by some demonstrators.

    https://twitter.com/BreitbartNews/status/1491063698210832388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1491063698210832388%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fpolitics%2F2022%2F02%2F14%2Fnew-zealand-pm-jacinda-ardern-blames-mysterious-imported-forces-for-freedom-convoy%2F

    1. That silly woman, like all incompetent politicians, can only blame ‘mysterious others’ for the whirlwind she has reaped upon her own ugly head.

      I would guess that at least 95% of drivers in that convoy are Kiwis.

    3. Says the woman who positively welcomes “imported forces” from muslim countries … giving her photo-ops to don her headscarf ..

    6. New Zealand seems to have jumped from the 1950s to 2020s in a few days.
      Or is it back to the 1930s?

        1. I gathered that, George, do you, of all people, not recognise sarcasm or must I put up after posts of that kind?

          1. That would help, Tom. It is frequently difficult to separate the sarcasm from the bile on this forum.

          3. I used to write :-)) or ;-)) after jokey or sarcastic posts, but many NoTTLers didn’t seem to notice. So now I tend to write Lo. (Which The Babbling Poltroon [© Bill Thomas] a.k.a. David Cameron claimed he thought meant “Lots of love”. Ha!!!)

  31. Good morning. Trudeau has dropped all pretence at democracy. He has announced seizing bank accounts of anyone who pays more than $25 to the Truckers fund. And at the same time it has emerged that he has 40% of the common stock of a company, Acuitas Therapeutics, that gets royalties from the Pfizer and Moderna injectates. We are now seeing the Beast emerging from its WEF bunker in full fig of evil.

    https://www.tarableu.com/trudeau-unmasks/

    3. And now, apparently, only 13% of the population wants him/her, it? As PM. He really is the bottom of the barrel scum dressed up as a politician.

  32. message for blackbox2: Struggling today to save a site to my Favourites panel, but at least I have succeeded in downloading the Google Maps app recommended by Tom. I shall now focus on using that app to get it clear in my head, and try your Favourites suggestion tomorrow to prevent frustration winding me up. (Same goes for somebody’s Streaming suggestion). Thanks to all NoTTLers for their help. I am determined to get to grips with modern technology before I die!!!

    2. Well done for the progress so far! At a certain point, it stops being a titanic struggle and does get easier.
      There are whole university courses in user interface design and how to make it friendly! I sometimes think that Apple bypassed those and just went with Steve Jobs’ gut feeling.

  33. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec5d4461a21c114498fb30dc2bba90db74ad378531eeda12e3b45f077a01d8aa.png I have refused to drink coffee for most of my life. Instant coffee smells and tastes putrid and emetic; just a whiff of it has me retching. Percolator, filter and cafetière coffee are nearly as bad.

    It wasn’t until I discovered superior, espresso-based coffee in my early 50s that I started drinking and enjoying the beverage. I consequently bought my own espresso machine and I have one delicious cup each day. The rest of the day, however, I drink a far superior beverage: tea, properly made in a teapot.

    2. Sorry, Grizzly, I have to disagree. Once a day I enjoy a small cafetière cup of decaf coffee with a couple of sweeteners and a dash of double cream. Delicious!

      1. Each to their own Auntie Elsie. Apparently tea makes some people ‘gip’, but I can’t see how!

    3. I have drunk coffee for breakfast for the last 60 years. Ground coffee, percolated, preferably Java or Cuban*. I also drink tea, preferably from real tea leaves, Broken Orange Pekoe for preference, and not the dust from the floor that is put into tea bags.

      *Just to annoy the USA, of course.

      1. If you buy your teabags from a bona fide tea merchant (I use Wilkinson’s of Norwich), they guarantee that the tea in their teabags is identical to their loose-leaf varieties. Simply ripping open a bag proves this to be the case.
        BOP is OK, I prefer Formosa Oolong and a decent Assam.

        1. Thanks, I will look up Wilkinson’s.

          Update: Brief visit to Wilkinson’s website and I’ve bookmarked it for future use – Ta.

          1. Both Johnny Norfolk and I know the place well from when we lived in Norfolk. I still buy my tea from there by mail order.

    4. You would never make it as a software developer on one poncey little cup of espresso a day! We need gallon mugs along with our bacon sandwiches.

        1. Our role model. Most authentic series ever produced in any media about software development.

          I once worked in a place with some characters, and one of my colleagues wrote and told Scott Adams about one of them (not me!) and he claimed that Scott Adams made up a new character based on his stories!

      2. I don’t drink espresso. I drink espresso-based beverages, mainly flat white and cappuccino. I don’t drink lattè (too much milk, not enough coffee).
        Bacon sandwiches deserve tea, not coffee.
        And who the hell wants to be a software developer? Poncing around in a centrally-heated ‘office’, sitting at a ‘desk’, is not work!

  34. One for the paranoid. It might not just be your mobile phone.

    A friend has recently had hearing aids prescribed and they need tuning to get them to the user’s satisfaction.
    At his most recent check up he was somewhat taken aback when the specialist told him where he had been since his last visit.
    Perhaps the specialist was winding him up, but he was spot on in his tracking.

    1. My hearing aids (Starkey) track your movements on their app (if you let them). Why you would want to. though, is beyond me.

      1. I’m sort of glad you confirmed that, I thought it was weird.
        Just another small step along the road to Chinese style social credits.

  36. I have often mused on the major problems facing our population. For example, what would Fagin have done in the Kleenex age?

      1. But he would have no source of stock. His merry band simply could not extract damp Kleenex from passers by pockets, they’d just fall apart. There would be no ‘wipes’… Very worrying..

        1. And if Fagin tried that on with Bill Sikes, Sikes would grab him by the scrawny neck and make him “squawk like a chicken”.

    1. Some considerable time ago (eighteen months?) the head surgeon of a large Miami hospital stated the same thing, and was howled down by all

      the powers that be.

      A Mr Hancock (remember him?) stood up in the HoC and stated that trials had been run by the Department of Health, and there was no truth in this.

      Many months later it was revealed to the HoC that no such trials had taken place.

      …………………Choose your conspiracy theory, but something certainly happened, to the great disadvantage of the populace.

      Why?

        1. It has been supplanted by the manufactured crisis with Russia. Since Corona has been discredited we must keep the population alarmed as we continue on to the Glorious Reset.

  39. Oh what a tangled web.

    Russia says it is WITHDRAWING some troops from Ukraine in first sign of a climbdown after US intelligence said units were in ‘attack positions’ and warned of invasion ‘by end of week’ – but is it all just another one of Putin’s deceptions?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10513527/Putin-step-Russian-tanks-artillery-seen-moving-Ukraine-attack-positions.html

    As someone said earlier, I’m sure the western politicians will claim it was them that made him back down. Assuming he actually does.

    1. As I said yesterday. Putin has no intention of invading. This is all smoke and mirrors by Biden in order to distract his constituency from the disaster that is his administration and the latest bad news for him concerning the conspiracy against a sitting President that the MSM doesn’t want to talk about.

      Durham probe has ‘accelerated,’ with more people ‘cooperating,’ coming before grand jury
      https://www.foxnews.com/politics/durham-probe-accelerated-more-people-cooperating-coming-before-grand-jury
      And good morning to all!

      1. It would be a delicious irony if Biden was brought down by the very people who squeezed him into office.

        1. He’s going to be brought down anyway by his own policies. Can hardly wait for the midterm elections and the Republican back in power. There is an interesting proposal, by the way, the Speaker in the USA does not have to be a sitting politician. So there is this idea that when the Republicans take the house that Trump become speaker then proceed to impeach Biden and Harris. I would love for that to happen, it would be delicious revenge!

          2. My worry is that if the Democrats successfully ‘stole’ the presidential election in 2020 what is to stop them stealing every future election as well?

          3. I think at this point, after the disaster that is Biden, the people would not tolerate a Democrat “victory”. That would really bring on an insurrection, as opposed to the fake one that the Democrats like to pretend happened.

    1. There are a couple of programs available on iPlayer that follow our snowboarding athletes progress towards the Olympics. They use dry slopes and a dedicated indoor snow centres (6 in the U.K.). Well worth watching.

  41. The wind is building up strength here , it has that particular sound , the rain is light at present , and we are in for a very wet day or two.

    Nice poem here

    Through every nook and every cranny
    The wind blew in on poor old Granny
    Around her knees, into each ear
    (And up nose as well, I fear)

    All through the night the wind grew worse
    It nearly made the vicar curse
    The top had fallen off the steeple
    Just missing him (and other people)

    It blew on man, it blew on beast
    It blew on nun, it blew on priest
    It blew the wig off Auntie Fanny-
    But most of all, it blew on Granny!

    Spike Milligan

    2. Miss him and the other member of the Goon Show. It was a highlight of the week to gather round the radio in Africa to listen to that. Truly funny people seem to have disappeared from our society. The last, it seems to me, was Robin Williams.

        1. Radio humour these days is facetious and coarse.
          There’s a good word for that TB,……….. Pantagruel-ism 🤗

      3. I have a recording of Eccles and Bluebottle, and another of Henry Crun and Minny Bannister and they still break me up after all these years. At prep school, it would have been very unusual to find my friend Boney and me not talking in Bluebottle.

        1. With a little digging, I think you can still find ‘The Goon Show’ online. Used to have them but lost them when an old computer failed on me.

    3. Willy his Sunday sashes
      Fell into the fire and was burnt to ashes.
      Now even though the room grows chilly
      We haven’t the heart to poke poor Willy.

  42. We were worried… now we’re glad we got a boost: Meet the people who didn’t want the Covid vaccine but are pleased they changed their minds
    Sponsored by The UK Government

    By MAILONLINE REPORTER : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10476499/We-worried-glad-people-didnt-want-Covid-vaccine-changed-minds.html

    Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.

    I wonder why they are not accepting comments. Maybe it is because they don’t want to hear about people who are glad they decided not to be jabbed?

    2. I had the first two AZ jabs for travel purposes before all the stories about the dire side effects came out. I refused the booster and am very glad I did.
      Anyway – tomorrow I’m off to Kenya.

      1. Have a very good trip and make the most of it.
        Some fools will doubtless be looking for new restrictions as you fly, to ensure you won’t be able to again.

        1. Thankyou – it will probably be my last trip anywhere – I definitely don’t want any more of these jabs and I’ve had many over the years.

          We had the PCR ‘fit to fly ‘ tests yesterday. Negative!

        2. If the jabs validity expires and more are required that will be it. They clearly don’t mean anything apart from surveillance.

        1. Thankyou! an unbelievable amount of crap QR codes to upload and print off – not just passport and go these days! Can’t check in till 11.25 so I’d better get on and do the other bits now!

      4. I also had the first two AZ jabs, but for concerts/festival purposes. I haven’t taken any tests, have never used the app – I have a picture of my two letters and subsequent jab forms on my phone to show at the door – and I stopped wearing a mask as soon as I noticed the massive loopholes on the NHS/Gov.uk website for exemptions.

        Last Saturday I got a few weird looks in Glasgow en route to see ‘King King’ but explained that the ‘guidelines’ prevented them from questioning my exemption. ;D

        P.S. Have a great trip.

      5. I also had the first two AZ jabs, but for concerts/festival purposes. I haven’t taken any tests, have never used the app – I have a picture of my two letters and subsequent jab forms on my phone to show at the door – and I stopped wearing a mask as soon as I noticed the massive loopholes on the NHS/Gov.uk website for exemptions.

        Last Saturday I got a few weird looks in Glasgow en route to see ‘King King’ but explained that the ‘guidelines’ prevented them from questioning my exemption. ;D

        P.S. Have a great trip.

        1. Yes – this trip was booked for March last year but all travel was banned; rebooked for October but BA cancelled our return flight and Kenya was still on the Red list at the time, so rebooked again……..

      13. You are?? WOW! Have a magic time, N!
        bring us back a few pictures of warm, sunlight and elephants, please!

    3. The ones who say they had the jabs AFTER haviing covid – where’s the sense in that? Especially the young people – sadly brainwashed.

  43. I am wondering whether there is more rodomontade than teeth in the account seizure announcement. The banks will not be thrilled with this, and the push-back from customers will be deafening. If anyone hears of it actually happening it would be interesting. Trudeau is a straw man in other respects to date so we shall see.

    1. rodomontade
      Great word.
      noun
      boastful or inflated talk or behaviour.
      “the corrupting effect the vogue for macho rodomontade may have even upon a civilized man”
      verbARCHAIC
      talk boastfully.
      “he soon finds out there’s nothing to be gained by rodomontading”

    2. They are returning to barracks after completing the exercises. The Russian Ambassador said the West would crow about getting Putin to back down. He was correct in his assumption.

  47. Rather sad day today, due to worsening back and joint problems I have carried out my last vehicle recovery, nearly 81 so I’ve lasted well

    2. Sorry to hear, Mate

      KBO

      PS Start heading to Edinburgh, with your truck, others will follow and you can help with any Breakdowns

    5. Well done in the nicest possible way .

      You have been an tremendous asset to all the broken down vehicles and distraught motorists .

      I expect your ripe sense of humour has made them all laugh x

      1. 1500 recoveries clocked up in the last 5 years – you need a sense of humour dealing with some of the idiots on the road x

        1. If I’ve got it right, Spikey was a Halton Brat, whether it has a museum or is even still open are questions to ponder.

          3. Used to live near there

            Took my Helo there, to do camera trials. Was lookin round the Museum, back in the 70’s an American came in looked at Flying Fortress and said he used to one of them, to visit Herr Hitler

            Nearby RAF Shawbury who are now teaching everyone to fly helos, RN, RAF, Perlice etc

    8. A milestone then. Congratulations on such long service. Are your family happy that you’re finally going to put your feet up??

    12. You could always nip down and help Bob with his firewood and wall building.

      On second thoughts, do what the others suggest and just enjoy.

    13. Well done Alec. You could probably write a book on the people you have helped in all weathers. Do you have a rough idea of the mileage you have covered in your work.
      I am coming up to 83 in June and my joints are letting me down. I am awaiting a hip joint repair consultation. I will probably go Private if the operation is many months ahead.
      Enjoy your retirement.

      1. Not sure of the mileage, probably around 200,000 for the 1500 recoveries in the last 5 years – I’ve been doing it for the last 15 years though.
        Yes I could write a book (but wont) about the good, bad and funny times I’ve had – it’s been a very enjoyable chapter in my life and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Pay has been crap but I didn’t need the money.
        Good luck with your hip joint

    14. That is sad but I bet you have something else in mind. You have done well.
      (Oh Lord, now I have Young Mr. Grace as an ear worm.)

    15. What a decision to have to make, Alec. I can’t imagine you’re going to be idle now, but think how many people you must have helped over the years, in awful conditions and ghastly circumstances. Well done to you and bless you for your goodness. Don’t take it easy!😘

      1. I guess music will take over Sue – we have a number of projects in the pipeline to bring music, film and drama to various ‘hubs’ in the area x

        1. Good for you, Alec! We’re going up to Loch Awe for a couple of days in April! I shall hope to hear your melodic airs drifting over the mountains! 🪗🎼

          1. I don’t think my keyboard is powerful enough – I live on the shores of Loch Ewe :o) but why not come up a bit further and visit me?

          8. We’ll recognise you!! Will let you know nearer the time! Keep 17th of April pencilled in your hectic social calendar!😘

    17. That’s a good age to be retiring at, FA. Congratulations on a lifetime of hard work! Now you can take some time for yourself.

    1. London has two populations. Immigrants, who don’t work, commit most of the crime and live on welfare and state handouts and white, educated workers who commute in to the city to work, couldn’t afford to live there but pay all the taxes that keep the immigrants in clover.

    1. I mentioned this might happen the other day.
      Look at the above link that’s how racist our country has become since Cur blair opened the door.
      None of this would have happened in the UK 40 years ago.

        1. When I lived in the USA the San Francisco Chronicle, the main paper in Northern California, had a front page article alleging that Clinton was a Lesbian. Now that is obviously, if untrue given this was a good 25 or 30 years ago, a suable offence. Odd thing is that, from the Clinton side there was a deafening silence in response. And, as you all know, in law, silence is consent.

      2. God knows. But she is turning out to be as crooked as her parents. The apple does not fall far from the tree, and all that!

    2. I think they’ve decided that Fauci and Clinton are dispensable, and that’s why Fox News and Robert Kennedy have been let loose on them.
      Both are near the end of highly dishonest careers anyway.
      As David Martin said, there are other stories that Fox News won’t touch, such as the fact that Canadian companies are getting royalties for every Pfizer and Moderna jab, and that this might influence Trudeau’s reaction to the Freedom Convoy.

  53. MOSCOW, Feb 15 – RIA Novosti. The State Duma during the plenary session voted for the draft resolution on the recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
    As the speaker of the lower house of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin clarified, the document will be sent to the head of state immediately.
    “The deputies believe that the recognition of the DPR and the LPR will create grounds for ensuring security guarantees and protecting the inhabitants of the republics from external threats, as well as for strengthening international peace and regional stability,” he stressed.

    Kiev have had 8 years to resolve the situation…more than enough time.

    1. I doubt that Putin will recognise them. That would take away much of the justification for his interference in Ukraine.

      How can Ukraine resolve the situation when Putin arms, reinforces and protect the separatists?

    2. RT reported yesterday that Vlad has said sorry but he can’t invade the Ukraine on Wednesday as his diary is already full. Got a meeting with Bolsonaro.

  54. Lunch, which I said I’d pay for, has been cancelled, due to inclement weather apparently, by a man. He is on holiday in Hull and prefers to stay there. I can’t think of anything more crushing for the ego of an ageing single woman!

    1. Because you said you would pay for lunch, I do hope he doesn’t have an other ideas … and asks you for a loan . ticket , taxi to get there etc

      BE very very careful .

    2. But how are you with missing out on paying for lunch for an ingrate, Ashesthandust? Close shave there!

  56. Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims infamous photo with Prince Andrew is ‘not in her possession’
    The Duke of York’s lawyers are understood to have lined up an expert to see if it was faked

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/02/15/virginia-roberts-giuffre-claims-infamous-photo-prince-andrew/

    If it is proved that the whole case against Prince Andrew has been a fabrication then will his brother, Charles, and his nephew, William, apologise for the disgraceful, disloyal way in which they have abandoned him and thrown him to the dogs?

    1. I doubt it was a fake. It doesn’t prove any criminal behaviour anyway. Andrew is a fool, and they are not as clever as they think they are either.

      1. Even if he did shag her as alleged, he didn’t break the law as she was over the UK Age of consent.

        1. I think if they pin anything on him, it will be that he was present in the US when minors were abused, and therefore he’s complicit. Even though Andrew is as thick as the proverbial planks, I very much doubt that he is stupid enough to shag an underage girl himself.

          1. “I very much doubt that he is stupid enough to shag an underage girl himself.” – well, no, he has staff for that.

        2. In the USA he broke the law, if what she says is true. Age of consent there is 18. Which is a joke. You would be hard put to it to find a 13 year old virgin in the USA.

          1. But if the alleged shagging took place in the UK, that can’t be prosecuted in the US, surely?

          6. Well now I am confused because it happened inn England where, if Andy did the deed, then she was not a minor. So quite how this is a crime or misdemeanour, I do not understand.

          7. But the one thing ignored by many, is that Giuffre’s allegations were the basis for a CIVIL action, not a criminal action.

    2. Actually. I have always thought there is something odd about that photo. The way his arm is around her waist, it doesn’t look right. And I’m not trying to defend him. By all accounts he is an arrogant and spoilt individual who took advantage and abused people by using his rank and privileges.

  58. Afternoon All

    All very strange, disqus wouldn’t post my Convoy!! images and tweets and I’ve lost most of them,still got a few though

    https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1493432675134226433?s=20&t=Txoc5mAbhK6zVSRYuAYoYg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e235ro_l3Xw&ab_channel=FoxNews

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d295619c4d6dae7015c5418a3bf1952c216225ce8976fe053d00646ec76a8bc.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26b85feed70a26a58a9ecb85025e3fda4668c14dff1a5525b9dfebb9f7d04b4f.png

    1. Brown thought of that and prevented folk from taking out more than £250.

      Government. Meddling and restricting freedom for millenia.

      The only thing is, from those linked arm protestors, they’ve forgotten their history: when the Left don’t get what they want, they usually kill those opposing them.

    3. The list doesn’t include the environment minister, he doesn’t qualify for wef because he is unsavory and was locked up after his Greenpeace protests.

    2. The socialism one is pure genius, and should be shown to every naive, indoctrinated teenager.

      1. Children who think the answers are socialism and communism are just ignorant. I remember one fellow carrying around a hammer and sickle flag being asked how many people communism has killed. He shouted back – how many has capitalism killed – because there’s nothing like deflection for avoiding the truth.

      1. Ha!
        Is that chemistry or physics?
        Richard Feynman or Robert Oppenheimer could have probably provided the answer.
        Incidentally there are some wonderful lectures by Feynman on YouTube.

  62. Good Afternoon. (Oh, no it’s not.)

    Michael Deacon in the DT. Well, Oi laffed.

    “The real problem with partygate

    Of course, you might have assumed that, after two and a half months of non-stop coverage, every possible aspect of the “partygate” scandal had already been exhausted. At the weekend, however, a fresh perspective on the story was advanced by one of Britain’s most consistently incisive commentators.

    Liam Gallagher.

    In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, the former Oasis singer was scathing about the Downing Street parties – but for an unusual reason. “You can imagine Putin sitting there thinking, ‘Call that a party? Abba and a cheeseboard?’” he said in disgust. “We’re a laughing stock.”

    In other words, Mr Gallagher was appalled not because the Prime Minister had partied too much – but because he hadn’t partied enough.

    Personally, I think he makes a very reasonable point. Judging from the evidence seen so far, these Downing Street parties were barely worthy of the name. Indeed, they appear to have been pitifully drab. Surely if one is going to break the rules one has imposed over the rest of the country, one might as well do it in style. It hardly seems worth risking the demise of one’s political career for a measly glass of plonk in the garden with Matt Hancock, or a slice of Colin the Caterpillar in the Cabinet Room.

    What makes it all the more galling is that Boris Johnson is a classicist. He should therefore know perfectly well what a proper party consists of, because he will have studied the ones thrown by the emperors of ancient Rome. Caligula, for example, ordered the construction of three gigantic, jewel-encrusted pleasure ships, on which he would host orgies and drink pearls dissolved in vinegar.

    Nero, furthermore, is said to have thrown parties in a golden palace containing exotic animals, prostitutes, a 120-foot-tall bronze statue of himself, and a rotating banquet hall, where guests would feast on such delicacies as stuffed sow’s womb and roast dormouse. Even a rock’n’roll veteran of Mr Gallagher’s standing would have been impressed by that.

    Yet the best Mr Johnson can do, it appears, is a Zoom quiz over a bottle of prosecco from Tesco Express. Frankly, it’s pathetic. In my view, the Prime Minister will not regain the respect of the Britpop community until photographs emerge of him in a toga snorting cocaine off a bust of Gladstone.”

      1. OLT

        I have just folded over 25 plastic bags from different shops and put them in a small box .

        I keep forgetting to put the empty bags back in the car.

        Moh is watching Curling on the box … so boring !!

        1. Gawd help me, as a child I was taken to see one of those musical shows ‘on ice’. Absolutely mind-blowingly awful, and cold.

        2. Gawd help me, as a child I was taken to see one of those musical shows ‘on ice’. Absolutely mind-blowingly awful, and cold.

    4. Do you still have the RN bag featuring the QE2 silhouette ‘Carrier’ bag some of us purchased a while back?

      1. If I were driving alaong that road, no way would I treat at as an ‘Zebra Crossing’

        I would also make a point of parking there

    2. Utterly disgusting. A complete waste of money. Put your bits wherever you like in private. They’re no business being made public. No one cares that you’re a poofter. The more you force it on us, the more we’re going to resist. You were accepted, now you’ve created resistance. Stop it, or we’ll roll over you and remove all those things you want. Believe it or not, you’re an insignificant minority.

    5. A good chum, Dave Moorcroft went to Loughborough when it was a TTC. I was in the same res as the girl who became his wife- different college. He is, no doubt, horrified by this.
      My brother had his first ever pint in the pub bought by Dave- nice bloke.

      1. Snap. Just posted the same thing. I will remove it. But I will keep the comment which was. The police horses are wiser than us!

    8. There is one of these in Oxford, and I always cross elsewhere. I don’t want to get mixed up in their politics. Street furniture shouldn’t be used for political campaigning.

  65. The weather has vastly improved, I’ve had a bath, loaded the van* and am now about to get dressed to go & pick up t’Lad.
    Will be stopping off for a bite to eat at Gloucester Services, run by Tebay services, so see you all later.

    *Not in that order!

      1. Tebay Services where always the very best and the rest just a sad bunch on the M6.

        I hope that they’ve kept it up and that Gloucester Services reflects this.

    3. That’s the bloc Quebec leader. His party is only interested in independence. Not a friend.

      What we heard him saying that he didn’t care what they do in Canada, Quebec does not need any emergency measures.

    4. Time for Governor General Mary Simon to step in and prorogue this Parliament with its traitorous PM.

    2. Tough package of sanctions my bottom. They hold all the cards because we’ve been made weaker and dependent. Boris’ high tax, big state, hard Left green twaddle has crushed this nation into the toilet.

    4. A think a battle tank trumps a strong package of sanctions. Being a military chap, I would be so bold as to suggest that100k well armed troops against the local army and NATO well away in the Baltic states is only going to have one outcome.

    5. I think Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin must be a Bridge player: he certainly seems to have waited for a reaction and then played his hand.

  71. Too windy for a WIND TURBINE! Villagers in Wales wake to horrific crash as £20million 300ft eco-energy generator is blown over in 50mph storm
    The 300ft turbine crashed into the ground on a Welsh mountainside after strong winds overnight on Monday
    The £20million wind turbine, which is double the height of Nelson’s Column, has snapped apart near the base
    It was one of 11 at Fforch Nest wind farm which opened in 2013 and makes enough power for 19,000 homes
    The incident has sparked calls for the remaining 10 to be inspected to make sure they are not at risk of falling

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10514957/Villagers-wake-horrific-crash-300FT-wind-turbine-blown-storm.html

    1. No, it isn’t enough for 19,000 homes, it’s enough to generate a degree of energy for a defined period of time – such as 15% of the time they’re actually useful.

        1. And produce flour. This one, at Holgate near York, has been restored and is again a working mill. If the sails do break, I’m guessing they’re less costly to repair?

          1. That is an old corn mill tower and 5 sails is unusual. I thought at a first glance that it was a post mill hence my comment.

            Windmills from the late eighteenth century were the engineering marvel of their times. Cogs and braking were ingenious.

          2. Yes, I’ve been inside this one, climbed up above the millstones and had the workings explained, though I admit that much of it went in one ear and out the other!

    9. 50 mph winds are not that unusual or that strong ( 50 mph = 80 kph; = 43 knots) – we have been at sea in Mianda in more than that.

      Funnily enough we lost the blades off our wind generator in a storm and then we lost one of our solar panels in a tornado. If grid-powering wind turbines cannot stand up to a bit of a breeze then what use are they?

  72. UNHAPPY HOUR
    Swift action needed…….!
    Britons urged to take action as millions of our birds face extinction.
    BIRD lovers are being urged to keep them protected to stop the “alarming decline” of some species.
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1565722/bird-news-warning-extinction-RSPB-national-nest-box-week-bird-flu
    I enjoy feeding garden birds and welcome their birdsong in early Spring however the downside is the local mice population appear to enjoy it too…..

    If we save everything form extinction then there won’t be room for us.
    Bring it on !

    1. We’ve been manipulated so much that I can’t get worked up about this any more. It’s probably just another initiative to abolish farming and have us all living off lab burgers and soya.

        1. Native British numbers are pretty static, it’s the influx of non-Brits by immigration (legal and illegal) that increases the population. That and the many more offspring they produce.

      3. We have just under a hectare of land and since the disappearance of our cat, Chaucer, 20 years ago we have had a very wide array of birds in the garden.

        1. I’m sure I saw Habitat mentioned on their sign when I drove past the local Sainsbury’s the other day.

    3. Get rid of that BBC fellow and start reducing the corvid, raptor and cat population, problem sorted

      1. “Get rid of that BBC fellow and start reducing the corvid, raptor human and cat population, problem sorted.”

        Sorted!

    4. Get rid of that BBC fellow and start reducing the corvid, raptor and cat population, problem sorted

  74. A Facebook friend of mine posted a video of her infant son with the caption, ‘Future footballer?’

    I watched it expecting to see the little lad kicking a soft ball around, but he just fell over then started screaming.

  75. The new Lord of the Rings TV show cost $1 Billion to make and was filmed in New Zealand.

    A small band of white characters under seige from a hord of rampaging Orcs who are destroying their way of life?

    They could’ve saved some money and set it in Bradford.

    1. But, but, how did they get into New Zealand during its lockdown? Did they claim they planned to play tennis but were hopeless at it? Benedict Cumberbatch filmed THE POWER OF THE DOG in New Zealand too. Did he claim that he had brought a cake and a suitcase of wine bottles to Jacinda’s birthday party? Lol.

    1. Multi-millionaire is she now, able to spread largesse to her “charidee?
      Not bad for a bit of leg-spreading.

      1. Perhaps I should claim that Prince Henry had his wicked way with me. Then I would eventually become a rich, widder woman too. And I would save all NoTTLers from having to read all about Mr and Mrs Markle.

    3. That must have cost an Arm and a Leg and a few other bits as well. I note that they are not releasing the amount!

      1. The RF can afford it. Better than having him in court in the US. Andrew was beyond stupid and lecherous, but he was also a victim of Maxwell and Epstein’s manipulations. Hope he’s learned his lesson, though somehow I doubt it.

          2. Revenge, surely?
            It’s as though the doormat on which they wiped their feet got up and bit them.

        2. She claimed to have lost that photo when Andrew’s lawyers asked for it. Surely if you were thinking about taking someone to court you would hold on to something like that? Says to me that the photo is fake.

          1. I don’t think it was fake, because if it was, someone would have produced the original photo of Andrew from which it was faked. It only makes him look guilty of having execrable taste in friends, and being lecherous, both of which were already well known.

    4. That must have cost an Arm and a Leg and a few other bits as well. I note that they are not releasing the amount!

    6. Effectively, an admission of guilt on his part. Guilty of sleeping with a 17-year-old who was over the age of consent, i.e. not a crime. If it had been without his consent, then that would have been a crime wouldn’t it? But as far as I know she didn’t accuse him of rape, did she?

      EDIT: I meant, of course, without HER consent.

      1. And a 27 year old PE teacher is dismissed for sleeping with an 18 young man.
        It’s not what you know, it’s still who.

    1. This is a staggeringly honest but brutal view of the reality of America and its Black population..

      2. Most of the violence on the streets of the UK is caused by people of a similar but peripheral culture. I’m not trying to be selective or disparaging but leopards and spots come immediately to mind.

      3. This was about 50 years ago and the most ‘racist’ person I ever met was an Oxford University educated man who was the son of an upper-class Nigerian diplomat. He loathed black people because he despised what he saw as their lack of education and their humble social and economic class – but what he hated most was that people would look at them and judge him by them.

        1. but what he hated most was that people would look at them and judge him by them.

          And seemingly Richard a lot of that sort of that type of discrimination is still rife. When I see programmes on TV about Benidorm I understand how he felt.

          1. I was once on holiday in Spain arranging for a car to hire, when an Englishman marched up to the desk and spoke abusively to the young woman because he had not been treated the way which he thought he was entitled to. When he finally stormed off after the young woman politely just accepted the abuse and tried to explain matters to him, I turned and apologised in Spanish to her on behalf of my fellow countrymen. I said that I hoped that she did not think that we were all like him.

          3. Or to anyone, Phizzee. Firm, perhaps, but never hateful. All it achieves is for them to spend more and more of their time plotting how to get their revenge.

          5. There’s no need to be like that, it’s pig ignorant.
            I Honestly feel very sorry for some of the Spanish people that have to put up with so many English people living in their country. The Locals are very tolerant. Once in Majorca we sat on the beach and were embarrassed by the noisy English people near by, we got up and moved nearer to the Germans.

          6. Some years before I retired I had an idea of retiring to Spain. I toured Spain one holiday looking at possible places. One of my requirements was to live far away from the Costas which were filled with British oiks.

    3. The son of one of my friends and his daughter in law have put their home on the market and are hoping to be moving. He lives in an area where there are a lot of recent arrivals over the UK (past 30 years). His next door neighbour has been heard and seen on the smallish adjacent drive ways revving up his loud motorbike and causing smoke when the viewers being shown around the adjoining property are not to his ‘standard’.

    4. The son of one of my friends and his daughter in law have put their home on the market and are hoping to be moving. He lives in an area where there are a lot of recent arrivals over the UK (past 30 years). His next door neighbour has been heard and seen on the smallish adjacent drive ways revving up his loud motorbike and causing smoke when the viewers being shown around the adjoining property are not to his ‘standard’.

    1. Oh well ………….I hope they get together again soon. If not…………..where was that again 🤩😎

    2. An 18yo? Really?
      Old enough to join the armed forces and be sent on Active Service?
      Old enough to vote?
      And a mere 9y age difference?
      Madness.

        1. Good morning m’dear.
          A very smooth run with no delays.
          After a stop as Gloucester Services for a very nice sausage & chips, we got here at 6ish and had a walk into Thornbury for a couple of pints.
          Bon voyage with your journey today!

  80. Putin is close to winning in Ukraine. 15 February 2022.

    Russia has amassed foreign exchange reserves of $635bn, the fifth highest in the world and rising. It has a national debt of 18pc of GDP, the sixth lowest in the world, and falling.

    The country has cleaned up the banking system and has a well-run floating currency that lets the economy roll with the punches.

    It has a budget surplus and does not rely on foreign investors to cover government spending. It has slashed its dependency on oil state revenues. The fiscal break-even cost of a barrel of oil fell to $52 last year, down from $115 before the invasion of Crimea in 2014.

    It is the paradox of Vladimir Putin’s tenure that he runs one of the most orthodox policy regimes on the planet. “The macroeconomic team at the central bank and the treasury are exemplary,” said Christpher Granville from TS Lombard.

    Mr Putin’s tight ship is a striking contrast to the prodigal socio-economic systems of the West, where money rains from helicopters and fiscal dominance prevails. “He is extremely conservative and rails against the dangers of debt,” said Chris Weafer from Macro-Advisory in Moscow.

    The commodity boom is adding an extra $10bn a month to Kremlin coffers from oil and gas. It is being squirrelled away in the National Wellbeing Fund.

    This rainy day reserve can be tapped as needed to cover social spending: pensions, child care, fertility bonuses for families, and mortgage subsidies for first-time buyers – components of Mr Putin’s levelling-up strategy for the 2020s.

    The Kremlin could sever all gas flows to Europe – 41pc of the EU’s supply – for two years or more without running into serious financial buffers.

    The West talks of “devastating” sanctions if Mr Putin invades Ukraine. Tuesday is the turn of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to repeat the warnings in Moscow, meekly in his case. There is theatre to this ritual, at best wishful thinking, at times masking economic self-interest.

    The harsher truth was summed up by Russia’s ambassador to Sweden. “Excuse my language, but we couldn’t give a shit about western sanctions,” he told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

    Washington says it will inflict much harsher punishment than in 2014, starting at the top of the escalation ladder. The Kremlin may already have calculated – accurately in my view – that the impact will in fact be less.

    Post-Crimean sanctions coincided with a secular commodity bust, the main reason why Russian real disposable incomes were to slide by 12pc. This time they coincide with a secular commodity boom.

    Russia today has a semi-autarkic economy, and its chief trade partner is China. The copious document signed by Mr Putin and Xi Jinping at the Beijing Winter Olympics – Entering a New Global Era – establishes a de facto authoritarian alliance.

    We should take the rhetoric with a pinch of salt. They remain two scorpions in a bottle, as amorous as Ribbentrop-Molotov lovers. But right now China has Russia’s back against the West, and this renders it impossible to enforce meaningful sanctions.

    The Kremlin knows that Europe has vetoed the expulsion of Russia from the SWIFT network of international payments. “The West has to do something to save face but we expect nothing more than sanctions on two or three large Russian banks.

    That would be disruptive but Russians are used to this. The only sanctions that would have any real impact is to try to kick Russia out of the global financial system altogether,” said Mr Granville.

    “Obviously Russia would grow faster if it were integrated into Western supply chains but in a sense the damage has already happened since Crimea. Further measures would be more of the same,” he said.

    It is clear that there will be no blockade of Russia’s energy nexus. Germany’s gas dependence is so total that Mr Scholz still cannot bring himself to state unequivocally that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline should be shelved after a full-blown invasion.

    Whatever is done requires the unanimity of all 27 states and will therefore gravitate to the lowest common denominator.

    “Europe can’t do without Russian energy, and it has nowhere else to turn. This is not just about gas: there are oil pipelines, as well as 2.5m barrels a day of refined products like aviation fuel and diesel,” said Macro-Advisory’s Mr Weafer.

    Deliveries of liquefied natural gas, mostly from the US, have slowed the depletion rate of Europe’s gas reserves over the last month, with the help of mild weather.

    But they are uncomfortably low – Austria (19pc), The Netherlands (24pc), France (28pc) – and global LNG capacity is stretched to the limits. A total Kremlin cut-off would bring Europe to its knees within weeks.

    The White House thinks Mr Putin cannot achieve his $400bn investment plan to diversify the economy over the next decade without Western technology, but China can plug many gaps, and there is no chance of sustaining a hermetically sealed sanctions regime at global scale.

    Mr Putin has an unrepeatable chance to smash the post-Cold War settlement and reassert Russian dominance over its near abroad. Nothing on the current menu of sanctions will alter his calculus.

    If he steps back from an invasion over coming days it will be for one of two reasons. The first is that the US, Britain, and Turkey have shipped weapons to Ukraine that are sufficiently sophisticated to move the needle: anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, and drones.

    Nato’s Eastern European states have held firm. The US and the UK have mobilised their cyberwarfare capability on behalf of the alliance. Washington has made it clear that it will support a guerrilla insurgency to raise the tariff of military occupation.

    Mr Putin has to weigh the risk that Ukraine’s battle-hardened reservists might put up stiffer resistance than expected and that a lightning strike on Kyiv might prove harder than it looks.

    Almost nothing that core Europe is now doing has any bearing on this. The EU failed to heed the lesson of Russia’s seizure of Georgian territory in 2008. It continued disarming even as Russia armed further. It spent a decade obsessing over institutional architecture, and then trying to save monetary union from its own contradictions.

    It lost sight of the greater strategic imperative during the European debt crisis, when states slashed spending on modern weaponry to meet arbitrary and pro-cyclical austerity targets. These were enormous errors of statecraft.

    The other reason why Mr Putin may desist is if Germany and France have promised behind closed doors to give him what he wants without a war: Ukraine on a platter, stripped of sovereignty and locked into Moscow’s strategic orbit. To call it Finlandisation is a euphemism. It is closer to Russification.

    We will find out soon enough what has been going on in these private sessions but it was revealing to see the ashen face and involuntary wince of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky as the German Chancellor spoke in Kyiv.

    Mr Scholz did indeed seem to be pulling the rug from underneath his feet, deflating Ukraine’s hope of genuine independence with the soft-spoken words and careful precision of an employment lawyer, the Chancellor’s former job.

    Markets are implicitly betting that a Western sell-out on Mr Putin’s terms is the likely outcome, and that Ukraine will be pressured into “voluntary” realignment – like the Czechs in 1938 – allowing business to continue as usual.

    Utter cynicism is usually the safest bet.

    We won’t know if this is true for a while yet but you have to give it creedence. Vlad is as crafty as a wagonload of monkeys and without a shadow of a doubt the Greatest Statesman of the Twenty First century.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/02/15/putin-close-winning-ukraine/

    1. A believable analyses. Vlad can afford to wait them out.

      Vlad and Xi also have the same opinions on troublesome muslims.

    2. If we got fracking we could sell our reserves as well. What none of these fools have put together is Putin’s orthodox Christian views and his fiscal probity.

      He is, bluntly, a Conservative. Our lot are wasteful spendaholic socialists.

    3. “without a shadow of a doubt the Greatest Statesman of the Twenty First century.”
      He ain’t got a lot of competition, Minty.

  81. Prince Andrew settles civil sexual assault claim with Virginia Roberts Giuffre
    The out-of-court financial settlement brings to an end the legal process and means the Duke will not face a jury trial

    DT Story

    I am very glad to say that I have never had any dealings with women of the calibre of Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

    1. Well as expected he seems to have got away with it.
      I wonder if he’ll still fit in all his uniforms ?

    2. Reminds me of a quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw:-

      Shaw: Madam, would you sleep with me for a million pounds?
      Actress: My goodness. Well, I’d certainly think about it.
      Shaw: Would you sleep with me for a pound?
      Actress: Certainly not! What kind of woman do you think I am?!
      Shaw: Madam, we’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.

      1. Shaw was devastating in his put downs.
        Lady Astor visited his home once and remarked that although Shaw was a keen gardener and reputedly fond of flowers, he had none in vases around his house.
        Shaw responded, “Madam, I am also very fond of children but I do not cut their heads off and display them in my house.”

        1. And he had a fine garden as well, his now NT house is on the junction of Bibbs Hall lane, Bride Hall Lane and Hill Farm lane near Ayot St Lawrence Herts.
          And there are some other very fine looking dwellings nearby. Nick Faldo the golfer was once a close neighbour.

      3. I can’t remember who it was but apparently a leading beauty suggested to GBS that they should procreate.

        “Just imagine,” she said, *if we produced a child with my looks and your intellect.”

        “But just imagine,” GBS replied, “if we produced a child with my looks and your intellect.”

        1. I think Shaw was rather too concerned with showing off his razor wit at other people’s expense.

      4. Oscar Wilde was on the same wavelength. There is an anecdote about when Oscar was smoking in a non-smoking First Class compartment on a railway train, with a non-smoking lady opposite him.
        She said “I’ll have you know that I am one of the Directors’ wives”, whereupon Wilde hit her with
        “I don’t care if you are the Director’s only wife”.

    4. Say rather Rastus, you have not gone looking for women that you can manipulate, or treated women as disposable.

      2. Two years of lawyer’s fees might be enough to bankrupt even the winner unless costs are awarded?

      3. He was there. He had the weapon. He had the motive. Difficult to prove innocence in that case. Pay up and put it behind you.

        You’re not annoyed with me are you?

      5. He clearly met the girl – though there was no case to answer in the UK.

        Also he probably wanted to clear the air for the Queen’s jubilee for her sake.

          1. Yes thanks! But I spent most of the afternoon going round in circles struggling with the Global Haven website to get the QR codes for travel. Very frustrating experience – but hopefully cracked it eventually.

      1. mola, that’s a very deep question!
        “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” etc.

          1. I am not afraid to confess to having had a few moments….and that’s all yer getting;-)

          1. Women weren’t allowed to go to stonings, were they? Not according to The Life of Brian anyway;-)

        1. Jesus does not let you off so lightly – also thoughts are a sin. But forgiven upon repentance of course.

  82. HAPPY HOUR – Please Sir…

    No more ‘Sir’ and ‘Miss’ as charity urges children to say ‘Teacher’
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/272aef03289206278c1fbcca03800d52bbba87c725036ee2d1504338565a2af9.jpg

    PUPILS should drop the use of ‘Sir’ and ‘Miss’ and refer to school staff using gender-neutral terms such as ‘teacher’ to tackle discrimination, an education charity has said.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1566515/Sir-Miss-dropped-gender-terms-education-educate-and-celebrate

    1. I will express this as politely as possible- Balls to that. If the children do not respect their teachers, what’s the point? In GA, the kids all called me Ma’am or Mrs. ……
      There is no excuse for all this nonsense. I have concluded that it’s a good thing I am past retirement age because I’d last about 10 minutes in a modern British school. Not PC enough or at all, come to that.

      1. I invited my pupils to address me as Richard on the day they left school. Until then It was Sir.

        However, Caroline and I invite the students who come on our courses at Le Grand Osier to address us by our Christian names.

        1. How did you address your pupils (not students) at your school. Smith, Jones Minor and Brown? Or Tom, Dick and Harry as is now the case?

          3. For us (it was a co-ed school) it was surnames for the boys and Christian names for the girls. There was no Equality Act in those days!

        2. Slightly different circumstances, if I may say. When I left the school in Manchester I asked the 5th year girls if they wanted come and visit in the summer hols. They did! They all came together- all 25 of them. I fed them baked spuds, sarnies and sausages and we had a great time. They called me Ann and they hoovered before they left and washed up and put everything away. Took me days to track down everything. Such nice girls.

        3. Different for children that have finished secondary education. I would still call you Sir, Sir, if i were on one of your courses. Or at least Mr Tastey. Professional relationship and all that. But that’s just me.

        4. Sorry oh but I think that is so wrong .
          They should be respectful and call you Mr Tastey .

          I would never call an older lady or chap by their first name .

          When I was a patient in hospital I requested the use of my married name , and not my Christian name .

          In certain areas of life , a certain amount of formality should be respected .

          I guess that is RN life really .

          4. When in surgery recently the nurse asked me how i wished to be addressed. I said Birthday Boy.

            Had to let them know somehow and milk it. :@)

          5. Really so pleased to hear your toes are tingling .

            Do you need pain relief …. and has anyone discussed with you why and how it occurred in the first place, was it as the result of the jabs?

          6. I do have codeine but i haven’t been using it. The Consultant initially said after my scans that he didn’t believe it was smoking related. Don’t ask me why. They normally take every opportunity to tell you to quit.

            It predated the jabs, so no.

            Thanks Belle.

          7. I always used to address one of my mother’s elderly friends as Mr … despite the fact he wanted me to call him by his Christian name. It just didn’t seem right or respectful.

    2. Being “blessed” with blond hair that even Boris Johnson would think was untidy, I was addressed as “haystack”.
      Should I sue the school?
      Edit, un.

    3. Evening Plum.
      never mind that virtually all teachers are normal and would prefer to be addressed as Sir, Miss or Mr/Mrs/Miss ‘surname’. or even the ghastly Ms is preferable to just ‘teacher.’ On starting school, little children will often use ‘teacher’ simply because they haven’t yet learned all the staff names not because they are being p.c..

    4. “We don’t need no education

      We don’t need no thought control

      No dark sarcasm in the classroom

      Teacher, leave them kids alone

      Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone !”

    2. To be fair to him, he probably knew the cameras would be on him when he went outside, and a mask is an easy way to avoid a photo of him frowning, with a headline like “what’s Meghan up to now?”

      1. Correct, and you can talk freely without the risk of some lipreader spilling the beanz.
        Of course, no one can grasp precisely what you are saying, but in his case…

    4. Not that i am defending the ginger twit but he is in a much smaller group and he has a drink in his hand.

    1. He probably got those for not installing cycle lanes and extra charges around Wimbledon. (I made that up but it could be true)

    1. Just trying to save face now the evidence is becoming more widely known. Those ‘predictions’ or ‘models’ were based on as much (ie none) science as the convid death predictions.

      1. Give it five minutes before they tell us we’re not allowed to have cars or gas boilers because of the new ice age.

        1. When we’ve all died from hyperthermia, we won’t need cars – it’s a win-win for the inhumane green brigade.

          1. Or pensions! It’s completely in the government’s best interests for us to pop our clogs a.s.a.p.!

    2. It was nonsense in the first place.
      But since we are in an interglacial period it gets warmer anyway and it has nothing to do with human beings at all. It is only hubris that makes some think that is so.

      1. And an opportunity to get one over on the rest of us. Like Covid. And whatever comes next.

    3. It makes me smile when climate scientists claim that climate models give approximately the same result – ignoring the fact that they all use the same underlying physics and chemistry. It’s like young people who all dress the same in case one tries to be different and gets ostracised by their peers.

  86. Thought for the day.
    Has Prince Andrew been firing blanks?
    Any grasper worth her salt would have tried to produce a FitzAndrew.
    She clearly didn’t have the “sparkel of a markel” (sic)

  87. Some good news to report. Scroll past if you’re bored with it.

    Though my bruising is spectacular it is painless.

    Today i began getting stabbing pains in my toes which are painful.

    What this means is the blood is getting through.

    So the Op was as far as it goes, successful.

    Waiting now for the Consultant to hopefully offer me a bypass for the other blockage.

    I’ll polish me tap dancing shoes in anticipation.

          1. She bounds across the park but always stops and looks back and waits for me. She fills the time with sniffin’ and pissin’. Something she does is funny. She cocks her back left leg like a boy doggy.

            I have my suspicions about her.

          3. Don’t worry about it.
            She watches you closely and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

      1. Arteries in my left leg. Three narrowings and one occlusion above the knee. Diagnosed last February. Not been able to walk more than a few yards without pain in all that time.

        I cannot fault the GP response when i described my symptoms over the phone. She told me to come to the surgery immediately. After examining me she called the Consultant at my local hospital and he saw me the following day.

        Then everything slowed down.

        The blood thinners helped and my foot mostly defrosted but it was complicated by another condition. Polycythaemia (thick blood) Had to have a pint of blood extracted every three weeks.

        Then because of being unsteady on my feet i had a fall. I managed to crush my right testicle. It blew up to the size of a tennis ball and then exploded. The pain was other worldly. The kind nurse was giving me little tubes of morphine every fifteen minutes. Not kidding. A & E and sorted out.

        Then…………………one of my blood tests came back as zero potassium and was told to go to A & E immediately as i was in danger of a heart attack. After a few hours of being wired up like a Christmas tree i was admitted to acute medical ward.

        So many hospital visits in 2021 and then i got admitted for an angioplasty on my Birthday.

        There have been one or two other items that are even ghastlier to mention.

        Even through the worst of the covid nonsense all the staff were wonderful and kind.

        Sorry to go on but you did ask. :@)

        1. Blimey, all written down in one list… poor old you, you have been through it, Phizzee.

          1. All perfectly clear in my mind.

            It has been a horrendous year but i haven’t let it stop me going out to dinner with friends and enjoying myself.

            I feel sorrier for the poor old folk locked in solitary confinement and dying alone. Unforgivable.

          2. Mother was shut away too… no visitors or anything. She was just fading away. Now in her new home, she has as much contact and company as she wants, plenty of people of all ages to talk to, proper food, and is perking up noticeably every time I call. And, when she’s had enough, she can retire to her room.
            Result!

          3. That’s a relief. One never really knows which way it will go when people go into residential care. Hope it carries on well.

          4. We got lucky, I guess. Got a good feeling from their website – they look like they need to be nice to attract peole to stay – as opposed to the alternative in Barry, no website, couldn’t even send some photos by email. Guess the Barry lot get allocated inmates by the Social (they were cheaper) so don’t really have to try.

          5. Good to know, Paul that she is in a place where she is happy and is subjected to human inter-action.

            A good result for you both.

          6. Indeed, Tom. Although she’s going to be pissed when she asks to go home and is told “We sold it!”
            We’ll cross that one when we get to it.

          7. What a relief for you, Obers! And lovely to know she’s safe and being cared for 24/7.It’s such a worry when they’re apart from you. Even though my dad lived with my sister in Greece, I just dreaded that phone call.

          8. They seem very nice. Facebook photos and videos posted daily, of activities (a giant blue balloon features heavily) – in one, everyone having noisy fun, Mother asleep in a chair…

          10. We’ll have to go over, likely around Easter, to start clearing the house ready for sale. Hoping that the various restrictions are reduced by then.

          19. It’s not until you stop doing something that you realise how much stress you were under. After frequent nights (always nights!) in A&E an hour from us with MiL, we got her in at the same lovely place my dear Mum was in, and she settled very quickly, enjoying the constant company. The relief was almost touchable.
            All was tickety-boo until 1st lockdown.

          20. That was how I felt when MOH fell downstairs and was admitted to hospital. It was as though a great weight had been lifted from me knowing everything was being done that could be done.

          21. That’s lovely to hear!
            Mother-in-law died just before Christmas 2020. Once 1st lockdown hit, the dementia progressed considerably. We tried video calling but she never engaged – staff explained that those suffering dementia generally didn’t realise it really was their relative in the screen, just like a picture phone. I suspect she died of a broken heart from feeling abandoned by her family.
            If her needs weren’t so great, we could have brought her here and muddled through somehow. Neither of us could have managed with being ‘waking duty’ even just alternate nights.
            The staff deserve medals though for all the extra time and effort they put in to try to make up for lack of visitors.

          22. I’m sorry about your MiL, Mum. That’s tough.
            One thing I realised is that I haven’t seen Mother since New Year’s Eve 2019 – so a little over two years. It makes her difficult to recognise on the Facebook photos – her face has shrunk rather, so it’s easier to pick her out by recognising the jumper or slippers.

          27. Some people were stopped by the Police and the Homes from removing their relatives. Even to take them for a walk. I think i would have lost it in those circumstances.

          28. I remember those reports. I too would have lost it.
            At the time, I wondered if having full Power of Attorney powers would have worked.
            B.C. (Before Convid) nobody could have imagined being kept from their family members. I now hope that I either never need to go into a home, or that I am able to, let’s say, prevent it!
            On that cheerful note, goodnight!

        2. Poor Phizzee, you have had more than your share of trials and tribulations over the last year. And stayed cheerful on here throughout. Let’s hope better times are just round the corner.

        3. Crikey, what a lengthy battle & ordeal. Fingers crossed for everything else to be sorted soon as possible.

        4. GOD!!!! I’m sorry I asked, talk about a cringefest! I really do feel for you, it sounds so ghastly. But I’m truly glad that things are getting better, you have clearly been having a rotten time of it. My abundant sympathies, and I’m really not kidding. After what I have been through my sense of empathy has become much more pronounced. I will keep you in my prayers. And you certainly don’t have to apologize for “going on”, I did ask after all.

          1. You are the fourth kind person to add me to their prayers. Much appreciated. I am much closer to those sunlit uplands than i was. I find friends and humour helps. And Gin of course.

      2. This is Phizzee you’re commenting with.
        What isn’t his problem?

        };-O

        We all hope he’s recovering and will go from strength to strength.

        1. Well Sos. I would give all the good news but i wouldn’t want you to think i was being big headed. Luncheon with several very desirable Nottlers of the female persuasion soon. I promise not to laugh talk about you. :@)

    1. A sad day. Bill has my profound sympathies.
      I hate funerals – never was any good at saying goodbye (au revoir) let alone adieu.

  90. You know the way the Western media have refuted everything that Vladimir has been saying re. Ukraine for the past three months. But now they’re saying he’s u-turned and is running away.
    What if,this time,he really is telling porkies?
    I’ve still got the popcorn ready for tomorrow!

    2. My money suggests that he’s testing what the West will do, he’s teasing them, but at the same time he’s seeing how quickly they can react and more importantly how they will react AND how united they really are.
      If it kicks off, I wouldn’t bet against the Ruskies, because my take on it is that they have more to lose, so will fight harder.
      America/UK/EU/NATO will be thinking, if Ukraine falls, which it will, is it worth going nuclear to get it back?

      1. I was joshing.There will be no war.There was never going to be a war.
        Vlad has now set his next little plan in motion…..Donbass.
        You really think the members of The Duma came up with that recommendation?
        Now Ukraine have to act on the Minsk agreement.

        1. Russia and its proxy forces broke it first, the Ukraine then refusing to further honour it. Putin’s signature isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. He needs to honour the agreement first.

          1. Unfortunately Dale, you sound as if you’re living in the 1950’s 60’s.
            Russia has run rings around the USA, EU and UK.
            He has been testing the waters after the debacle of Afghanistan withdrawal; not to mention USA and EU gas supplies.

          2. Can’t quite get my head around Dale’s comments. Either he is someone who learned a warped version of history or he is something else. Either way he sounds unreal.

          3. Unfortunately there are a lot who view Russia as the big bad wolf (bear) without having availed themselves of the countries history.
            Our problem is that the USA has now got rather a lot of geriatric hawks who still think of reds under the bed, not to mention our own government who still follow them.

  91. The criminals running Wales are licencing mRNA injections for 5 year olds, and also talking about a “booster” in the spring.
    In Germany, population ca 80 million NOT ONE healthy child aged 5-11 has died of covid. Not one.
    Some people have lost their heads and lost all ability to think logically.

    1. And the omicron version isn’t worse than a cold. Corroborated by several people I know who had it. Why vaccinate for a cold?

    2. It’s been licenced for 5 year olds for some months in Ontario, Canada (not sure if it’s a provincial or federal approval). My older grandchild there, barely 6 at the time, was jabbed as soon as it was allowed in November then got a 2nd one just over 5 weeks later. No doubt they will be looking to get the booster soon. The parents now want the 4 year old to be jabbed as soon as possible. Madness to jab children with a substance that has no medium term, never mind long term, safety data. If convid had turned out to be a serious threat to healthy children, there might have been some sense in taking that chance but we all know they are at no risk.
      If our offspring were still young, there is no way I would permit them to get this questionable jab….though I suspect their dad would disagree.

        1. Yet still the jabs are being pushed here for young children to ‘protect them from the dangers of a future wave.’ Er, but doesn’t any supposed protection wear off within a few months (at best)?

    3. The lawyer fest when all this jabbing goes wrong will be epic. Whiplash on steroids, that’s claims I hasten to add.

  92. Canadian police chief for Ottawa, Peter Sloly resigns after heavy criticism over the way he handled the truck drivers demonstrations.

    2. Hi Obs, I posted something similar above, do we know if he had an attack of conscience and remembered the oath he took or did he go because he has disappointed Trudy?

      1. I guess it’s the embarrasement of having his men videoed acting like pikeys and petty thugs.

    2. Seems to be a get out of jail card for the Gov’t. If the public respond – ‘keep mandatory vaccinations’ (gov’t blames the public for the enforcement). If the majority of the respondents say scrap the mandatory vaccinations – Gov’t is let off the hook….

      3. Can we be sure they will report the results honestly? They may claim a majority want the jabs to be mandatory for health workers so as to justify reinstating the mandate.

          1. They will fix the result in order to get the desired answer. Even if most vote to not have mandatory jabs, they will lie and claim the majority do want health workers to be jabbed or lose their jobs.

      1. Probably deliberate. I filled it in late last night after a heavyish session at open mic and it took me a while.

      2. I agree. I’m a linguist but there was one I had to read (and rephrase) in order for it to make sense – too many negatives!

      3. Glad I’m not the only one to think that! It’s almost as though they don’t want any contributions from the public….

        1. I get the feeling that whichever way you answer it will be taken as what they want it to be.

    4. I have had three phone calls today re the booster, the message says he will ring back. I tried to ring the number and they don’t accept incoming calls.
      I will ask for some sort of certificate that holds him or the NHS responsible if I have a similar reaction I had to the first two injections.

      I put the silly boy in his place who rang me later to talk me into having foam sprayed between the rafters in our roof for better insulation.
      Claiming that traditional rockwool or the like over the top of the ceiling joists causes damp patches and mould below. He then politely rang off.
      Apart from the problems surrounding the rafters and felt with foam. Then the problem of having to heat the whole open nooks and crannies roof area and with the soffit air vents it’s never going to happen. Plus any trapped moisture will rot the rafters, purlins and or trusses.

    5. It asks some very leading questions and some ambiguous ones, designed to catch you out. Also more about the responder than the mandates. I stayed anonymous, as I did for the last one. A week is not long enough for this.

  94. It is being reported that the Ottawa Chief of Police has resigned.
    I hope many more of his officers remember the oath they took, it never included the betrayal of the Canadian constituation.
    I would like to read RichardL’s take on this.
    This was a YouTube video, I can’t find a link yet.

    3. From the report on CTV:
      “Sloly has spent the last week asking for reinforcements, saying last Monday he needed 1,800 more police personnel to end the protest.

      However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that he did not “accept the contention that the city of Ottawa has exhausted its tools and resources.””

      Could it be that they can’t get more police officers to travel to Ottawa because there isn’t the will?

    4. From the report on CTV:
      “Sloly has spent the last week asking for reinforcements, saying last Monday he needed 1,800 more police personnel to end the protest.

      However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that he did not “accept the contention that the city of Ottawa has exhausted its tools and resources.””

      Could it be that they can’t get more police officers to travel to Ottawa because there isn’t the will?

      1. Between a rock and a hard place. Hopefully his fellow officers will follow his lead.

        I am reminded of the Catalan Police who stood with their backs to the protesters facing off the National/Barcelona Police. One of the incidents i saw was an elderly lady being swung around and thrown to the ground while she was holding her little dog on a lead. Fucking Nazis.

        It ain’t over yet.

        1. This is not nearly over. There is a long way to go. They (NWO and globalists) won’t give up so easily having come so far.

  95. Tyre fitter, 55, who was branded an ‘old white guy’ by his ‘abusive’ black colleague wins £22,000 after making race and age discrimination complaint
    Barry Moore worked as a tyre grader for Sean Pong Tyres in Rotherham, S. Yorks
    He was one of two white workers while the owner and two others are Ghanaian
    Employment panel heard Barry felt victimised after being called ‘old white guy’
    He was awarded £22,027 for unfair dismissal and race and age discrimination

    A 55 year old worker has won more than £20,000 in a race and age discrimination claim after a black colleague called him an ‘old white guy’.

    Barry Moore repeatedly told he was too old to do his job by younger fellow tyre firm employee Desmond Owusu, an employment tribunal heard.

    A panel ruled the constant harassment Mr Moore received amounted to bullying, forcing him to resign after complaining he didn’t come to work to be ‘abused and victimised’.

    He has now won £22,027 compensation after winning his claims for unfair dismissal and for race and age discrimination.

    The tribunal held in Leeds was told Mr Moore worked as a tyre grader for Sean Pong Tyres Limited, a firm in Rotherham, South Yorks, which recycles and exports tyres.

    The tribunal heard Mr Moore was one of two white workers while the owner Sean Frimpong, Desmond Owusu and another employee called Eric Barkoh were all of Ghanaian origin. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10514551/Worker-55-branded-old-white-guy-abusive-black-colleague-wins-22k-compensation.html

    1. Amusing though it is to see the boot on the other foot, I feel it merely underlies the nonsense being given legal support.
      Get shot of it all.

  96. Re Prince Andscrew and the payoff.

    I do hope that every girl who Roberts pimped for the pervatory now sues her for a share of the winnings.

    1. My opinion….if you believe a huge sum of money is going to one of this woman’s charities…may I interest you in a bridge I have for sale.

  97. This was in Saturday’s DT.

    It is folly to think Britain can turn away from producing its own food

    Why is it good to harness the natural power of wind and sun to produce energy, but frowned on to harvest the natural fruits of our country?

    CHARLES MOORE

    ‘Farming is a form of manufacturing,” says Sir James Dyson, “I want to make things.” The famous inventor has said it often, actually, but as we talk, I can look out of his window and literally see what he means.

    I am his guest in an austere modern office at the heart of Dyson Farms, in Carrington, Lincolnshire. In the same complex, producing a cow-like smell, is one of his two enormous anaerobic digesters (ADs), which provide much of the energy for his operation. They generate the equivalent of the electricity used by 10,000 homes. Anything not used on the farms is sold into the national grid. The “digestate” (waste) from the ADs then makes good fertiliser. The buzz phrase is “circular farming”.

    In my mouth is one of Dyson’s tasty winter strawberries, a growing part of the 750 tonnes a year he produces, supplying them to M&S. The 72 kilometres [Oh come on, CM, 45 miles] of glasshouse pipes are heated by the neighbouring AD.

    Hard by is the glasshouse, so large that the best way to travel through it is on the little electric scooters provided. After our sandwich lunch, I watch prototype robots attempt to pick the strawberries. They don’t do it right yet, their colour recognition being confused by the LED lighting, says Sir James. Eventually, however, they will be able to work, unlike human beings, day and night. The picking trolleys will be run on autonomous vehicles from glasshouse to packhouse.

    In all, Dyson Farms have bought 36,000 English acres. In Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Somerset, they concentrate on beef and sheep. In their 29,000 acres of Lincolnshire, it is all arable, mainly wheat, barley, peas and the strawberries. It has cost £400 million to buy the land and £120 million so far on improvements.

    There is literally no one else in Britain who could operate on this scale, but this does not mean Dyson’s example is a rich man’s folly, irrelevant to real farming. Just as Jeremy Clarkson has done farmers a favour by showing the public the problems they face, so Sir James is giving them hope, by showing that the production of British food can have a bright technological future.

    “The romantic in me wants to save, protect and nurture as much English farmland as possible,” he has written; the entrepreneur in him believes this is compatible with profit. He wants to make farming less dependent on the middleman, less vulnerable to supermarket power, readier to develop its own brands and sell them direct.

    The Dyson approach is arrestingly different from the trend of most public policy. The Government now insists that farmers should receive what it calls “public money for public goods”.

    These goods are defined non-agriculturally. Huge pressure groups, the RSPB and the National Trust, which also own great tracts of land, want rewilding, “restored habitat”, allowing rivers to return to “a more natural state”, etc. The RSPB’s slogan “Giving Nature a Home” is obediently taken up by Defra, which does not properly acknowledge that farming is itself a home for nature. The new incentives for farmers and landowners will, in effect, punish the production of food.

    Although concern for the environment is laudable, it is a strange idea that food production is not a public good. Civilisation came into being only when food production had achieved reasonable sophistication and security. It would collapse if these were seriously undermined. Food (and water) are really the first of all public goods, the sine qua non.

    We know, from the high quality of much of our land and the beneficent results of our agricultural revolution, that Britain – particularly England – can produce food very well. Hence all those old jokes about roast beef and those sheaves of corn proudly decorating so many pubs and other buildings.

    Ours was the first generally well-fed population in history. What makes us assume that we can let that go and rely on the rest of the world? Even the most ardent student of the habitat of the natterjack toad or the shrill carder bee still needs his lunch.

    If land is well suited to food production, it is moral to employ it for that purpose. It might even, in some circumstances, be immoral not to do so. Why is it good to harness the natural power of wind and sun to produce energy, but frowned on to harvest the natural fruits of our fertile little bit of the earth?

    To do this successfully requires husbandry. In modern times, this in turn requires science and technology. Using drones and computer mapping, marsh harrier nests in the Dyson fields can be identified and skirted round. One of the best means of attacking crop pests on the Dyson estates is to spray them with tiny mites that kill them rather than with chemicals. The pollination the farms monitor in order to improve crop yields.

    In his famous dictionary, Dr Johnson defined “husbandry” in three ways – “Tillage; manner of cultivating land”, “Thrift; frugality; parsimony” and “Care of domestick affairs”. That is a helpful trio. It makes the link to agriculture, emphasises the good, economical use of what you have, and reminds you that the work starts at home. The Dyson model of husbandry is the 21st-century version of this 18th-century formulation.

    The modern environmental movement is, in part, a justifiable reaction to the abuse of humanity’s power over nature. Too often, though, it draws the impossibilist conclusion that human beings must just pull out completely – or even, in the most extreme version, drop dead.

    Paradoxically, such attitudes flourish only in countries so rich that they assume their survival is automatic. Just as the West’s victory in the Cold War lulled it into thinking that threats to the free way of life had forever disappeared, so our globalised ability to increase material prosperity has led us to think that all goods, including food, can just keep on coming.

    With the decline of a sense of threat came a lack of vigilance for security. What need of military defence, or indigenous supplies of fossil fuels, or growing our own food, if we thought what we needed would always be available from somewhere?

    In this century, there have been repeated shocks to this complacency. The events of 11 September 2001 showed that low-technology terrorism could hit the greatest power on earth hard. The financial crash of 2008-9 found us being made to save our banks, rather than the other way round. The rise of China has showed how weak and easily infiltrated our elite institutions have become.

    In trade and manufacture, the attractive EU notion of “just in time” supply chains turned out to work only if international relations were in good order. The current energy crisis, caused partly by post-Covid supply issues and partly by the punitive demands of net zero, exposes how we have thrown away our former energy security.

    We are in for a similar shock if we turn away from producing our own food. It won’t be much fun watching reintroduced beavers or wolves if we do not know where our next meal is coming from.

    “I hate subsidies,” says Sir James Dyson. He believes they always distort commercial decisions. But if our Government subsidises only environmentalism and competing countries continue to subsidise agricultural production, British food producers are stuffed. In his memoirs, he ends his chapter on farming thus: “I simply can’t bear to think of English agriculture going the same way as British manufacturing.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/11/folly-think-britain-can-turn-away-producing-food/

    The message is broadly correct, though I’m not sure if fields full of greenhouses and anaerobic digesters makes for a countryside that we want to see. I might also quibble about the use of mites to control pests – biological pest control doesn’t have a great record. I’m all for responsible farming and conservation but not at the expense of food. And it’s curious how those who bewail the loss of UK manufacturing and the subsequent importation of so much are quiet on the subject of cheap labour…

    The government’s environment and animal sentience Acts reek of the influence of Johnson’s neo-Marxist eco-trollop.

    1. For God’s sake, Dyson get this stupid greenie government to wake up to the despoiling of acres of our arable farmland, which is going on by covering it with solar panels, produced by slave labour using rare earth materials, the mining of which contributes more CO2, as does the actual production of the solar panels, never mind the CO2 expended on the journey from China to the UK – much like the pellets for Drax which sits upon 300 years of coal.

      Madness, I tell you, madness.

      1. So many anomalies and I heard last week that Greta is now worth millions, where did that come from ?

        1. When negotiating tv fees, ‘her people’ said, “Greta has to think of her future”. I can’t say more but hey, I thought we’d already stolen her future? I thought the world was about to end?

      2. The sun in Britain is so much weaker than the sun further south, which is another reason why it’s barmy to try and generate solar power in Britain.

  98. Prince Andrew has settled for an undisclosed sum:

    Daily Mail:

    No way back for Prince Andrew: Royal experts say Duke’s reputation ‘can’t be rebuilt’ but settlement has ‘lifted a shadow from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee’ – and palace sources say he will attend thanksgiving service for Prince Philip

    1. Shame. I had hoped that his lawyers would reveal Ms Gufiere to be a money-grabbing whore. Hey-ho.

        1. Most people aren’t all bad or all good. Everyone who was in the orbit of those two manipulators was both a victim and a perpetrator, to a greater or lesser degree, including Andrew.
          That’s an absolutely classic controlling abuse situation.

  99. Goodnight my friends and God bless. Too many sleepless nights have taken their toll and I must sleep.

  100. Evening, all. Had a lazy day today – got up late, had a leisurely breakfast, then went into town for a relaxing coffee and booked Oscar into the groomer for the end of March. Came back and threw away some more outdated paperwork. Also continued to desensitise Oscar to being brushed and have his matted hair trimmed. Can only do a very little at a time because he starts to get stressed and upset, but he’s looking better, if somewhat lop-sided at the moment.

      1. I’ve managed to get the matted bits off one side of his muzzle, but the other side still has straggly bits.

          1. He is a work in progress, definitely. We’ve come a long way since last June, but there’s still a fair distance to cover.

      1. He very rarely wags his tail unless he’s being offered food! I stop grooming when he starts growling and trying to bite despite the fact he’s wearing a muzzle!

      1. He’s worn a muzzle for me to do anything with him (taking off dressings, drying, brushing, trimming etc) ever since I got him. I am trying to reach the happy state where he’ll accept my doing the normal things owners do with their dogs in terms of handling without having to be muzzled. I did manage to dry him briefly with a towel the other day, but I have to be quick.

        1. I know this might sound daft but try singing to him in a gentle deep voice. Same thing each time.

    4. That’s a bit odd – Dogs usually like being brushed. Mongo can’t get enough of it.

      Is he a rescue or have you had him from puppy? Maybe his skin is sensitive. Does he let you stroke him?

      1. He’s a rescue. He was nearly 12 when I got him (appropriately enough, on D Day last year) and I don’t think the family he came from had been particularly nice to him. He was very nervous and up tight. He’s much better now, but they had to take him to the vet to be sedated to be clipped. At least my groomer manages just with him wearing a muzzle, although the first time, it took two sessions!

        1. Additionally, he does let me stroke him now (although he didn’t want to when I first got him). I practise T touch with him (little soothing circles all over his body) to calm him down. I think I’ll give Reiki a go as well. Everyone remarks how much calmer he is now and how much he’s improved from when I first got him.

    1. The post office, civil service, have first got to compensate the 700 people they did so much damage to, 50p will be all they have left.

      1. 33 of them died before seeing their names cleared. Others ruined financially and their families destroyed. Others committed suicide. Others still… served time in prison.

        Paula Vennels oversaw all this and SHE was an Anglican priest. I expect she will be made the new Commissioner of the Met.

        1. I saw a nice lady being interviewed on TV she explained a lot of it in person. It’s absolutely disgusting. How could this have happened surely one of the idiots running the inquiry must have put two and two together and seen there was a problem. It’s hard to imagine the investigators were as thick as that.

  102. I think i’ll turn in as well, we’ve had a few problems (two year old grand son taken [still there now] into hospital) that has disturbed our sleep patterns over the last two nights.
    Might have a wee dram. Night all.

      1. It’s been such a worry Sue, he had chicken pox and he should have recovered by now, but he went further down hill, they have been checking with blood tests etc now checking him for leukemia after transfer from Lister Stevenage to Addenbrookes in Cambridge.

          2. I’m more relaxed then the rest of the family, it’s difficult to get them not to worry. The hospital has a first class reputation for looking after sick children.
            It’s strange because I had a mysterious eye infection just before he was taken ill, a few days of antibiotic drops soon cured it. Probably not related but perhaps a sign of the times.

          1. Thanks.
            Their rating in the children’s department is very high.

            Have you ever had much to do with H&S Corim ?
            We have a job going on at the moment in our road and what they have done so far looks incredibly strange they had a large loft conversion about 4 years ago and have now supported it with steel beams and demolished the whole side of the house to ground level and the rear. It looks very precarious.

          2. Thanks for that, i spoke to our son this morning the little fella is a bit brighter, but they still haven’t been able to discover what is actually wrong.

  103. Question? Who are all these weird people who are suddenly upvoting us? Not just me but others I have voted up have had similar. Can they be removed?

    1. I wondered about that but I think they have to actually comment in order to be banned. That’s the problem with Ogga’s downvoter. Which reminds me, where is Ogga?

      1. Ah, maybe that’s their way around trying to get us to “buy” what they’re offering.

          1. Surely not? I would have thought that he’d perfected his message by now, he’s had enough practice 🙂

    2. They are spammers but most have been careful not to comment. We can’t ban upvoters or down voters if they don’t comment. They are a nuisance but at least they are silent.

        1. It makes them identifiable though. I hope people will spot them and flag as spam any that comment.

    4. Psyops paid trolls. As you are aware this is a center right platform. They are not Russian trolls. They are not Chinese trolls. They are homegrown in an attempt to disrupt. if you go to their profile you may get bugged.

      We have already seen upvotes lost in hundreds of thousands. Bill Thomas was a bit upset about losing all of his which made it impossible for him and others to comment on other Disqus sites.

      As we have seen with Trudeau and other globalist pawns this is their response. Shut down free speech unless it fits the narrative.

      I haven’t bothered looking at their profiles this time round but last time it took you to supposed Russian porn sites.

          1. Pretty much packed and not going till lunchtime tomorrow! So I’ll be here to annoy you in the morning…….

          3. Thanks – all booked & paid for more than a year ago. Postponed twice so this is third time lucky.

          9. Well, M’Lady, an elephant in the room is bad enough – but an elephant in the shower!?!?! Lol.

          10. Actually , it’s a wet room which would be even wetter were a heffulump to be in there as well.

      2. I never click on sh*t like that. Just wondered as they don’t comment, and as Ndvodu said, they are indeed spammers.

  105. BBC news in full propaganda mode tonight.

    I never liked Djokovic much but full marks to him for his measured replies in the interview.

    Then we had the full propaganda and outright lies from Fergus Walsh.

    1. Just think. When you finally get to land……………….all this shit will mean nothing and your mind will expand into glorious freedom, pleasure and beauty.

      I had to pay hard cash for drugs like that !

      1. It’s certainly addictive…….. this will be my 11th trip to Africa (not counting Egypt) and 5th time in Kenya. It may be my last if the vaxpasses are still a thing next year. I’m not taking any more of their jabs.

          2. I think going on safari does change you…for the better. A bit like the religious experience in the desert.

    1. Now i know the little darling on the right is a lady elephantidae because she has long eyelashes.

  109. RIP PJ O’Rourke, so many great quotes, one of my favourites;If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it’s free

  111. YES! More of this please!

    Pictured: Storms send 300ft Welsh wind turbine crashing to ground
    The £20 million turbine, double the height of Nelson’s Column, snapped apart and its blades crumpled in raging winds

    By
    Telegraph Reporters and Olivia Rudgard, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT

    Villagers were woken by a 300ft wind turbine crashing down on a mountainside in Wales after it was blown over during storms.

    The £20 million turbine, double the height of Nelson’s Column, snapped apart and its blades crumpled in raging winds.

    Residents of the nearby village of Gilfach Goch, near Bridgend, South Wales, told how it sounded like “thunder and lightning” as the turbine came down at around 6.50am on Monday.

    They are questioning how it could have fallen apart during winds of around 50mph and demand officials check the status of neighbouring turbines.

    Neighbour Lydia Stephens wrote: “A wind turbine fell over in the wind farm on my village this morning and I thought it was thunder and lightning, but how the hell does a wind turbine fall over?

    “Apparently it was creaking and banging all night before it collapsed, and one woman thought it was her neighbours’ tumble dryer.”

    Other villagers said they were worried about the safety of the turbines following the collapse, and Labour councillor Aurfron Roberts called on wind farm owners to carry out further checks on turbines.

    She said: “We have had some extreme weather here lately – some very strong winds and gales. It’s a surprise because they are well maintained. I hope this means owners will be extra vigilant and take care. It’s probably just a really unfortunate accident but it’s lucky no one was hurt.”

    A spokesman for wind turbine manufacturers Nordex said: “Unfortunately an incident occurred at the Pant Y Wal wind farm in Wales. On Monday, a N90/2500 turbine collapsed. No persons were injured. The only material damage that has occurred as a result of the incident is to the turbine itself.

    “All necessary safety measures have been implemented immediately after the incident.”

    Meanwhile, half-term holidaymakers have been warned about the dangers of taking caravans for weekend getaways as Britain braces for Storm Eunice.

    National Highways said there was a “particular risk” to lorries, caravans and motorbikes and suggested drivers should consider delaying their journeys.

    It came as the Environment Agency warned that the storm – set to be the second to hit the UK in three days – could cause “severe coastal flooding” on Friday.

    John Curtin, the agency’s executive director of operations, said the weather “will potentially drive a surge with high tides at the end of the week” along the west coast of the UK.

    Storm Dudley will move across the northern half of the country from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, closely followed by Storm Eunice, which will bring strong winds and the possibility of snow on Friday.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/02/15/TELEMMGLPICT000286125147_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqONq086ctDlsrDJ1FMX_PFdHhMh81Y8GqX3ipA8YMo0k.jpeg

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/15/pictured-storms-send-300ft-welsh-wind-turbine-crashing-ground/

    1. Morning Bob. There are two storms coming in! Perhaps they will lay waste to the whole lot!

    2. I’ll bet that’s put the wind up those syndicates at Lloyds who insure those things!

      Morning Bob and all.

    3. Now we need a tornado or a low wind to get under the solar panels and blow them into the sea.

  113. According to NRK (https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/ukraina-1.11480927) the EU has a Plan for gas supply in case Russia stops sending the stuff. They have been talking to the USA, Egypt, Qatar…
    Right.
    So, there are masses of LNG carriers just sitting around waiting to be used, are there? Hundreds of LNG liquefaction plants just idling away? Loads of receiving & regasification terminals, yes? Fucking idiots the lot of them. They have actively got themselves into this position by relying one one monopolistic supplier, now their nuts are in a vice. And Vlad can turn the screw whenever he wants to.

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